Siren Cove
by CLAMPraven
Summary: (Tsubasa-RC) (Alternate Universe) (Slash) In a world of strange deformations, Kurogane is assigned to take care of a stray merman... Part 20: Sakura's fate was revealed...but what happened to Tomoyo?
1. Prologue: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: In a nutshell, I don't own Tsu-RC, or any other series referenced within. I don't do stand-up comedy either, so yes, this is an actual straightforward disclaimer. (Readers: You unsophisticated, humorless wench! How dare you! CLAMPraven:…) _

_Author's Notes:_

So, here I am, back again to the same section (I might grow roots here after all!)! After writing The Magical Mokona Doll, I didn't expect to return so soon. It's mostly because I had thought that I'd be too tired to continue composing fics like these. For, you see, I have been known to procrastinate. A lot. After finishing the gargantuan bulk that was my Fushigi Yuugi fic (which, for the record, tallies an incredible 258,312 words and the sweat and toil of an entire year's typing), I had informally retired. For months on end, I didn't return to this website. So what revived my zeal and passion for writing fanfiction?

Tsubasa-RC. Boredom. My big, flaming ego. (_Ego:_ Feed me! FEED ME!! -;;)

In short, all you really need to know is that I am back, and alive again, although somewhat inept at the art. But writing is the only way to become better at writing, and so here I am, in my sixth foray into the genre that is CLAMP!

…I'm not done, damn it. -__-;;

Learning from my mistakes is something that I must constantly strive to do. By examining what I have done in the past, I can make an honest and acceptable effort in the future. And there is a lot to examine, believe me. My last fic was all cuteness and peaches. Right now, I shall proceed to tear it apart. What was wrong with it, you ask? (_Confused Reader:_ Huhwha? But I didn't ask – _CLAMPraven:_ Shut up! Shut up, damn you! __;;;) 

Well, for one thing, I've never been very good with writing descriptions of characters from a third person perspective. I'm always trying, but just to be on the safe side, I'd better not do anything in the third person for a while…hence the reason why this fic is in Kuro-kun's point of view. I know for a fact that I'm better when it comes to writing dialogue and free-flowing thoughts, which allow more of my self-deprecating and otherwise crude and unusual humor to seep through. ^-^ (_Angry Reader: _WHAT humor??)

For another thing, long fics are great fun to write, but extremely tiring when there's a weekly update. I cannot afford to go on another yearlong hiatus. So no more than…shall we say, fifteen chapters for this little ficclet? (Now, I know what you're thinking: a story of fifteen chapters is obsessive and insane, and only proves the fact that I have no social life. I cannot agree more on the latter. ^-^;;) 

And one last thing, before you all get bored and leave: my pacing has been known…to suck. ^-^;;;;; Characters fall in love with other characters at an astonishing rate, a serious death scene becomes hilarious in the very next paragraph (believe me, this has happened before), and it all makes for very little sense. Kind of like me. So I'll attempt to make it more credible.

All right! So, since I've confessed all of my previous mistakes, I will expect that, in the reviews, you'd give me some helpful advice on how to fix them if they come up again in this fic! Or at least, just tell me if there's something amiss. ^-^

Now that that's settled, I'd better start writing…OOH! Spongebob Squarepants is on TV! (Rushes to television)

Reader: AAAAAAACK!! (Dies from lack of plot substance and common sense…-;;)

_PROLOGUE_

_ Also known as_

_"The Trouble With Trees"_

_Part 1_

On a tiny island in the middle of nowhere, detached utterly from reality, one could easily forget what's human…love. Hate. Strife. The ignorance of the masses.

It's too easy to forget.

I hadn't forgotten. But I would soon…I could foresee it. It was inevitable, really.

So what the hell was I doing here…? 

I'd have given many things to leave this place. My heart belonged where the people were…never mind where I'd chosen to build my damn home. But still, I lived here, on an island, and practically alone. The rolling sea heaved and pushed constantly at the towering cliffs yonder. The gulls yapped everyday, like lonely children, and the flow of the waves and whirlpools were mesmerizing. 

Sometimes, from here, I felt as though I'd merged with the sea storms, the rainfall. Sometimes, I wondered if I was even human. 

There were times when I'd merge with nature, the thick, leafy shrubs and the gurgling black pools. I'd think that I was a part of the worldly greatness, as light as the ever-shifting clouds and as swift as the tempest. I'd feel that. I hadn't seen civilization for years…I didn't really know how to think for myself. I didn't believe that I am special…just a part of the world soul. A part of everything that is and will be…that's what I was. 

I lived alone, for God's sakes. There was nothing in the world that I wanted. I was free from the trouble that politics and power bred.  

There were people who dreamed about the way I lived, free from desires and the give and take of common society.

But what did I dream about…?

I dreamt about living. Not this kind of useless merging with the elements, mind you, but really living. And you can't really live unless you immerse yourself with people, even if it is only to realize that they're dreary and bothersome, and cast them aside again.

I dreamt about being full of greed and guilt. I dreamt about the smog of the city, about thundering down the highway in a motorcycle, breathing fuel and flame. I dreamt about riding on that monster, with somebody's little girl clutching at my waist. She had…well, she had to have a pretty face, untainted and innocent, and she had to clutch onto me tightly as we mowed down the obstacles in our way relentlessly. Above all, she had to hold me like I was the only one she trusted in the goddamn forsaken world... 

Love. Greed. Satisfaction.

In essense…I dreamt about uniting myself with the devil. No matter what I forgot about the world that existed outside of this little island, I did know that…

…Hell, it had to be more gratifying than being alone here.

And no, having Sorata's company didn't count. 

-

"Oh, spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, that notwithstanding thy capacity receiveth as the sea! Nought enters there, of what validity and pitch soe'er, but falls into abatement and low price even in a minute!"

Arrrgh…!

"SORATA! Would you shut up? Some people are _trying_ to sleep!" 

"Now, now, Kurogane…!" Momentarily ceasing the tired Shakespearian prose, Arisugawa Sorata (my well-meaning but incredibly annoying friend) put the receiver of the phone aside for a second, to give me an innocent and mildly offended look. That guy…! He's like a persistent dog! "Shakespeare's words can't hurt you! Very few people I know take offence to his poetry the way that you do! Besides, they are my first and last resort whenever I'm reciting rhymes of love to my honey." 

He grinned stupidly, his face flushed with joy and his eyes glowing proudly. I grunted, whapping him with a pillow before falling back onto the sofa's worn arm. 

Now, of course, this wasn't new. Sorata breathed poetry. Sorata lived romance. Sorata's deformed little head was full of quotes from cheap paperback novels and kitschy soap operas. And I had to look at that guy's face every single day, and grin and bear it. And believe me, it was exactly as frightening as it sounds. Someone would have hell to pay if I end up being anything like that sentimental asshole after _I_ get married…!

"Shut your mouth. I didn't get any sleep last night with the emergency duty and everything, so I'm sleeping it off right now. You keep reciting that clichéd love crap to Arashi and the kids, and I'll wring out your neck."

"Why are you always in such a bad mood…? Honestly…" Chuckling, he sighed, returning to his phone call. "Hello? Yeah…hi, dear…I'm sorry. Where was I, now? Oh, right, right…yeah, it _was _Kurogane just now…perceptive, aren't you? Yes, he _is_ loud…but it doesn't bother me! I'll live…"

I shut my eyes, clenching and unclenching my fists. 

Think calm thoughts, Kurogane. You've been seeing a therapist since you were six years old. You'd wasted most of your time in counseling and detention when you attended school. You're a grown man now, with slightly more sense. So think calm thoughts, damn it. Creative visualization. Pretty butterflies. Immaculate rainbows. Singing waterfalls…

My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

Holy flaming crap. 

"Goddamn it! I forgot to water Hinoto!" 

-

The island was previously uninhabited. It was so far away from the shoreline that most food supplies would've taken days to get transported there, and it was expensive by boat or plane to deliver them. But more to the point, the isle was puny. There was hardly enough area on it to walk a dog. 

Sorata and I lived on this island, in a little two-story shack that was built in the old days before the Rebirth. It was somewhat crooked, being slanted slightly towards the right, and over a long period of time, we speculated that it woudl probably fall down like a pile of weatherworn toothpicks. We two lived in the left rooms of the house only, for fear that if we moved the furniture over to the other side, the sad old thing would tip over. We didn't usually use the right-side rooms, except for one, which we reserved specifically for Hinoto. But I'll get to that. 

Before I discovered this island, I wasn't well off financially. Put one way, I chose to pursue my dreams as an artist with all the ambition of an aloof child. Put another way, I ended up, like most artists, having to scrounge around for laundry quarters. So when I finally had to move out of my parents' house and find my own place, I immediately signed up for this floating dungpile in the open sea. 

It was reopened after the government decided to reconsider labeling it a danger zone, and after the sludge from the recent oil spill was finally cleared off of it. Moreover, it was cheap. What the hell…I decided that I would give it a shot. But after arriving on the island (which still smelled terribly like oil) after an excruciatingly boring 4-day ferry ride, I laid eyes on the thing that – in all likeliness - made it so damn cheap.

I'll give you one guess as to whom.

Sorata's optimism and romanticism made him the bane of my existence, but it was forgivable, since we split the maintenance costs on the house. Surprisingly, when I arrived, he'd only lived in it for a month or two, but actually managed to make the place hospitable, including setting up the cable and stocking it with apropos furniture. He was quite happy to have someone whom he could chat away at, and he talked about everything, with no particular sense of continuity. 

Because of his intense admiration and respect for the fairer sex, I got the feeling that he would've sold off my ass for a chance to live with a pretty girl…which was probably the only sentiment we shared. I voiced this right away, of course. He laughed, and told me that he already had a wife who lived on the mainland, Arashi. She couldn't join him on this little island, because evidently, she had a career, and he…he just had a problem (Arashi's very capable; she actually enabled television to be broadcasted to him over the sea, so you can imagine my surprise when I realized that she'd married him, of all people). 

He also had a few kids. God blessed him with two little girls, and…well…at least he was happy about it. Personally, I found them high-pitched, easily excitable, and fairly simple-minded…and that was just from listening to them over the phone. They were a lot like Sorata, to be sure. The worst thing was, combined with Arashi's wit and Sorata's ambition, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the two munchkins would become famous, impossibly rich, and scar the entire world someday.

Yes…Sorata and Arashi made a comfortable living together, even while supporting two very demanding children. So why was Sorata even living on the island?

Believe it or not, Sorata was a writer. A writer, for God's sakes. 

I lived on that crappy island because I had no other option, and he lived there for the inspiration for his next story! It was almost enough incentive for me to pummel the asshole, when I found out that he was working on a romantic novel. Frickin' bastard! 

The redeeming factor was that he didn't pity me, like my folks did, so I could tolerate that. At least we have a mutual respect on some level or another.

So, anyway, after the two of us grew accustomed to living in the same house, and after Sorata had the gall to try naming said island (he wanted to call it Illyria, the dumbass…no, I didn't let him), we had another permanent resident stop by. A guy named Saiki Daisuke traveled to the island by ferry a few days after I had completed unpacking, and told us that someone else would live with us, also, should we accept. He told us that it was a woman.

More specifically, she was a tree woman.  

-

"What do you mean, you forgot to water Hinoto?" Sorata's voice was fierce with disbelief, as he ransacked the kitchen for the medicated water bottles reserved for her. "I just reminded you an hour ago!"

I hissed, and covered my eyes, unable to face him. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten, either. "Damn it…I know. I'm sorry, I - "

"You know how she gets when someone forgets about her! Remember the time when I neglected to give her the monthly injection? Who knows what she's up to now?" Frantically grabbing a bottle from the lower shelves, he dashed across the hall to the stairs. I followed, dazed and clumsy in comparison, but swiftly chasing after him as he descended nonetheless. I wasn't prone to anxiety by nature, but seeing the normally chipper Sorata nervous dismays me.  

How did I forget something so obvious? Every other day, I have to water and feed Hinoto. Every other day. Every other day, and whenever Sorata's away. It's on the goddamn calendar! In red marker: Sorata…Friday. Kurogane…Saturday…

Sorata bounded down the steps two at a time, and thrust open the door that led to Hinoto's cold, bleached chamber. His eyes widened, as he staggered back, nearly knocking me over from behind.

"Holy…"

-

A tree woman, you might ask?

You see, in the mainland, about a decade ago, it wasn't as empty as it was when I'd moved out. The economy was bustling, tourism was abounding, and there was an organization of genetic scientists who worked in the old power plant. They called themselves the Clover Project, and they'd experimented with chemical compounds and radioactivity. It was never made clear by the news what they were doing, shut up inside the factory day and night, but the government had stated that, evidently, they were experimenting with genetic mutation, attempting to find something that would alter the human gene and cross it with the genes of animals and plant subjects. 

Bunch of radicals, evidently. The government probably knew exactly what they were doing, and didn't want to get the full blame, so they withheld most of the information regarding the Clover Project, but…in my personal opinion, I think that they must've used live subjects for their methods of testing. Obviously, it wouldn't have done well, to reveal this to the public.

But one day, there was a leak in the power plant. Contagious gases filled the air, and spread all over the mainland. They could hardly be contained…it was a national crisis. The Clover Project had gone too far in their experiments, and blown a fuse. The genetic compound that they'd been testing was released into the air…and it remained in the air for years and years to come.

I suppose they would've been pleased to see that it had worked to their satisfaction. They had discovered, with their last attempt, the formula that would cross the gene pools of humans and nature. It was a horrifying thing they did, but they would've been proud.

The terrible accident had been labeled the Rebirth, which was fitting, since a new, decrepit lifestyle had begun soon afterwards. Now, the mainland has practically no business. All the tourism companies filed for bankruptcy after its horrified clients discovered that they had been exposed to the power plant gases, and were beginning to mutate. The economy collapsed onto its knees. The gases had started to change all the citizens who lived on that coast near the sea, and those on all the isles yonder. Everyone was a victim, and even later generations experienced the defects of the chemical imbalance.

Some simply happen to be more affected than others. Hinoto was one. 

After the Rebirth, citizens started to grow various appendages that were inhuman. They began to lose the feeling in their human appendages, becoming numb. Their brains and central nervous systems rapidly deteriorated, depending on the gases that they'd inhaled or were exposed to. The gases that had been released into the air were not toxic, but there had been several different kinds. Some were the results of experimentation of fish genes, some of bird genes. These gases had been carried in varied directions by the winds, and many people were only exposed to one type of chemical, but some were exposed to many. Some people survived it. Others eventually lost the ability to control their bodies, became senseless, and succumbed to disorder and lunacy. 

Even the people who were born long after the Rebirth experienced similar disorders, its severity depending on whether they lived close to the abandoned – and permanently closed – power plant. Most of the children who grew up on the mainland are now weaker, dumber, or suffer from terrifying new disabilities.

Sorata and I were as affected by it as anyone. 

However, Sorata was never there for the incident, having only lived on the mainland for a couple of years before changing location, and only suffered minor damage to the brain. By moving away from the shore, the effects were significantly lessened…no wonder he felt he could write better on this island. He was slowly transforming into a fish. 

I saw his back bared before, when he was changing clothes. There were a couple of crudely shaped fins sprouting out, dull and sickly to look at. He said that he was getting gills around the neck, too, but the doctors had given him some injections to help them fade away, as well as to keep his tailbone from growing longer. But in the meantime, he wore baggy, shapeless clothing to cover up the defects.  

I myself had been slowly becoming a canine throughout the years – slowly, since I left the mainland often in order to try and seek out new opportunities. My teeth are slightly longer than the average man's (they had to be truncated regularly, or else I would have to pull them out), and it's always been troublesome for me to maintain a healthy diet, because eating vegetables had always made me feel ill. They'd told me in my annual check-ups that my body would probably reject vegetables altogether by the time I turn forty…not that that's much of a problem, compared to everything else. I had to shave constantly, and exercise my lower body more vigorously than my upper body, for fear that one day I would end up succumbing to the need to crawl on the ground. It is in my wolfish nature to be prone to outbursts, and…well, at least my brain was left well enough.       

But Hinoto…

Hinoto was different than either of us. Sorata and I were average cases, but hers was much more severe, because she had actually lived to see the disaster. She'd experienced it first-hand.

She'd worked within the Clover Project staff.

After having been arrested for the incident, the doctors certified that Hinoto had been working dangerously close to the test tubes that had exploded. In fact, had she been any closer, she would've been dead. But instead, she lost almost all her senses, and started to mutate rapidly days after the police had started keeping her in custody. The process had occurred so startlingly quickly - the elongation of her limbs, the disappearance of vital organs – that the doctors couldn't develop an anesthetic for her shifting condition to counteract this process, leaving Hinoto to face the agonizing pain and horror alone. 

It was all too quick. Within months, she was paralyzed, virtually unable to speak or move. She had to be fed by workers at the penitentiary, and she could no longer accept solid food. She had almost completely transformed into a large willow tree, with her skin hardening into white bark and her facial features merging with whorl patterns. It was becoming more and more difficult to distinguish her face. Her hair had become brittle, some splitting into long undulating tangles of leafy foliage. 

Her feet had split into several branches of root and, for fear that she would permanently implant herself in her prison cell, the wardens placed a powerful drug in her water, so that she would perhaps be inclined to move more often.

But the effects of the drug was too strong, and it startled her; her system rejected it violently, and after vomiting up blood and dirty saliva, she proceeded to attack the wardens and rip off the bars of her cage. She began to swing her branches around forcefully, her struggle unrelenting and outraged. Her roots had dug into the layers of bedrock and cement beneath her, and she crushed the tile floor and a water pipe below with ease. From what I'd heard, it took almost the entire staff to contain her, and prevent her from uprooting that section of the building.    

When she'd finished serving her sentence, they'd sent her to a therapist, where she was deemed incurable. Because the overdosed drug had been a hallucinogen, it remained in her body, and even years after the incident, she would repeatedly see terrible visions and her wrath would be invoked again, every once in a while…particularly when she felt weak from lack of food or water. 

Daisuke told us all this when he brought Hinoto over across the sea. From the rickety boat, two assistants, Hien and Souhi, carried out a large cage. There was a hunched over willow crushed inside, and they immediately released her, whereupon she seemed to breathe more easily. She was a beautiful old thing. Back when I first saw her, I could distinguish the two whorls that had once been her eyes…they aren't that visible anymore. But she is still an amazing thing to look upon.

"Take care of her well," Daisuke had told Sorata and me, when we decided to accept her into our house. He'd paid us a ridiculous amount of money to take care of her, after all. "Never forget to water her or feed her. Give her a shot every month; it's her medicine, to help her control her rage and to dispel that hallucinogen permanently from her system…though that may not happen for a few more years. Make sure she is kept in a room with a window, facing the sun. And be careful who you show her to; the government may still give you trouble if you create a lawsuit regarding her condition."

And we'd nodded, and smiled, and like two regular idiots, we vowed to take great care of her. We put her on the right side of the house, in a little room on the first floor. Even though we wanted to keep her on the left side, so that we could check up on her more easily, the right side of the house was the only place where she could actually face the sun. She seemed to like it well enough – though you can't tell with tree women, really – and we figured ourselves to be real nice Samaritans. 

Of course, if Daisuke could've seen us now, he would've probably kicked our Samaritan asses… 

Well, quickly! Leave or go on to the second chapter! (Shoos readers) 

You know, that is, if it's there… ^-^;;__


	2. Prologue: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Author's Notes:_

…And, without further ado, here's part two of the prologue! (I really should be shortening this thing…don't worry, though! The real story will start eventually! I hope…^-^;;; or I can catch the Tolkien syndrome and write down THE HISTORY OF THE MAINLAND!! -;;;;;)

_PROLOGUE_

_ Also known as_

_"The Trouble With Trees"_

_Part 2_

"…Crap."

In the middle of the tiny room, Hinoto was shivering, her body wracked with fear and malevolence. The light of the pale, murky sky shone like rivers of glass, pouring through her long, tousled branches. Her leaves, numerous and sickly green, were vibrating in an alarming manner. She'd slung her roots around the room, and there they were like ropes and coils, anxiously awaiting a straggler. With her abnormally pale complexion and her threatening poise, she instantly transformed into a breathtaking monster, with gnarled branches trembling as she held them up to strike.  

I stepped forward, mesmerized with fear and awe. 

Hinoto had lost everything in life. She was practically isolated from the world, and even with companions, she could not communicate with them in any human way. But there was a power in her, something different from the bitterness that so many people expressed…

There was a light enveloping her soul, wisdom and a conviction, that there was something she deserved in life, beyond the disgusting excuses that people have made for her, beyond her suffering and loneliness. She believed in this. She believed that there was hope. This was what she fought so hard to obtain. 

I was certain of this.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not respecting you, the way you deserve to be respected. Goddamn it, I'm so sorry…! Everyone who'd ever mistreated you was a helpless idiot, Hinoto. They could never have your conviction. You're that damn strong. Strike me…you can strike me. I'm one of them. Please, Hinoto...live. Live, Hinoto, and strike me for being such a negligent bastard…! 

I would've given anything to have said that to her. But I wasn't as strong as she was, and all I could do was stare.

"Hinoto…" Sorata attempted, in a tentative whisper. "Hinoto, we're sorry…w-we…"

And then she reared up, and answered my prayers. 

With one swift crash, she struck us through the wall, and flung me into a realm of unconsciousness. 

-

…

…Like…

…Like an insignificant dot…

Lying beneath the pinnacle of the skies…

God, my head feels like egg batter. 

…Sorata…? 

"Kurogane! You're awake? Thank God…" And sure enough, there he was, peering down at me with an expression of relief, but also doubtful. "How do you feel? Are you really okay?"

Sorata, you're assuming again. Wasn't there some smart aleck in your elementary school who taught you that to 'assume' is to "make an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me' "? Frickin' basics… 

"I never said that I was okay, damn it…" 

Running a hand along my skull, I slowly dragged my fingers from my forehead down to my mouth, and tasted blood. There was a bandage that sloppily covered the rest of my head, but I could feel an open wound, a single trickle. Growling angrily, I inclined my head, spitting the nauseating liquid onto the moist ground. "Disgusting. Did my skull crack open, Sorata…? How's my brain?"

He laughed weakly. "I wouldn't know. The rescue crew said that you'd be fine." 

I blinked lazily, straightening on the ground. "What…what rescue crew? There isn't a goddamned rescue crew for miles around here…"

"Apparently…we were in luck." Sorata smiled gently, as he propped me up against a wall, and handed me a bottle of water. As I struggled with the lid, I was able to glance about at our surroundings through blurry eyes. 

We seemed to be in some sort of empty room, but it sure as hell wasn't our old shack. The scent of chlorinated water assailed my nose, as I glanced uncomprehendingly at the huge windowpanes on the other side of the wall, reflecting sunlight and tinted glory. There were stone statues, sensual creatures, in every corner I could perceive, each pondering an emotion serenely upon their customized pedestals. Huge, blossoming roses and tender, unfolding chrysanthemums embraced the sides of these chiseled wonders. My ears were sensitive to the splashing of a pool within the house, echoed by enormous passageways and menacingly large chambers. 

It was a beautiful sanctuary.

But it sounded completely hollow, and empty, and for all its tranquility, it couldn't have scared me more.

"Where the hell is this…?"

"The rescue crew brought us here. It's a mansion on Heliotrope Isle, one of rich estates."

"But it's not our island. And for the last damn time, what rescue crew?"

"Well, I was trying to tell you," Sorata chuckled good-naturedly, as he shook his head. 

For the first time, I noticed that he had bandages lopping about his head, also, and his left arm seemed to be in a sling, which bobbed up and down whenever he tried to maneuver his shoulders. There were bandages on his legs, as there were on mine. But he seemed to have come out with significantly worse injuries. 

Hell…what did you do, Sorata? Although I couldn't say this directly, the message seemed to radiate from out of my troubled eyes, even though he took no heed to it. What did you do to yourself, in order to protect me from Hinoto…? Don't tell me you actually carried my huge bulk out of the house while I was unconscious, even though you were hurt…! 

"The ones who saved us, actually, were the Scavengers. The same group that you work with," Sorata continued. "They were still lingering around our area after the big emergency last night, so I dialed their number using your cell phone. It was trouble trying to find your cell phone amongst your mess, granted, but I managed to before Hinoto started to really rampage, and they came in a matter of hours…that's much quicker than any old mainland ferry! After I towed you out of the house, it was only a short time before they arrived to pick up the pieces."

"Hm," I nodded, comprehending. My head felt numb, but I could still understand his jabber. 

The Scavengers were a group of workers who sailed around all the isles close to and far from the mainland, regardless of the distance, and they almost always had something to do. I signed up as one of them when I moved onto my island with Sorata, because…hell, I had to pay my share of the money in some way. There was no training involved for the job, either, when you were just one of the deckhands, so it seemed perfect. 

The Scavengers were the people who located individuals from the mainland who'd mutated almost entirely into animals (take note that plants don't do this) and were living in the wild. They'd lost almost all hope of living successfully amongst civilization, and most had gone insane. The Scavengers would relocate them in the wild, usually in the sky or on a deserted island, and try to establish them back into society. My particular group of Scavengers specialized in the sea people, the fish and marine mammals that were still partially human, no matter how small the percentage was. 

And I would work on the group's boat, scrubbing the deck and cleaning up after them, sometimes helping to pull the boat together during a storm, and fixing it afterwards. I never actually talked to the individuals they worked with, but I watched the professionals talk to them, desperately trying to get through to them. Most of the time, we were unsuccessful, but whenever we were, it was always worthy of drunken celebration.

Last night, there was a huge drunken celebration. We'd re-established two whale humans into the mainland, where they would be kept funded by the organization of the Scavengers and live semi-successful lives as workers in construction after their counseling is done. We'd docked on a rich island, not far away from my own island, and released chaos into the night. It was a healthy romp. Everyone had fun. I got a hangover afterwards, and that's why I was so tired the next day, but it was all worth the reckless spending we had to do.

So, they were still lingering around our island, were they? I wouldn't have doubted Sorata's integrity on this fact. After the rave, the whole crew probably did stay fairly close to their location from before, since obviously none of them were sober enough to direct the damn boat. 

"Huh. So they took us here?"

"Yes. This is Gingetsu's mansion."

"That aloof bastard…he owns this thing? Holy crap…! Why the hell's he even working on the Scavenger shifts, then…?" I exhaled tiredly, shaking my head. "You know what? I don't care. I don't give a damn about his money. What's the damage on our house?"

Silence from Sorata. He had turned away.

"What's the damage?" I repeated, more fiercely this time. A fearful sensation had crept through me, and I glared at Sorata, unable to read his blank visage, unable to comprehend. 

What had happened with Hinoto…? And the house…I know perfectly well that even though Hinoto hardly ever budges, the woman's as strong as a bull when she's provoked. Judging from past instances, she could easily uprooted an entire building with little effort…

…No. 

No, that can't be right…

"It can't be." My eyes widened, my lips tingling from the shock. "Sorata…she couldn't have uprooted the house."

He closed his eyes, but didn't deny it. 

I shook my head more vehemently. Without knowing it, I had unconsciously grabbed Sorata's shoulders, and was now clutching onto him, shaking him in pathetic denial. "She couldn't have. She was inside. If – If she'd taken the house down with her roots, she would've been trapped inside…"

There was still no answer from the man who was normally so articulate, and extroverted. He'd kept his lips sealed, looking as though he could cry. I could feel tears gathering at the back of my eyes, as well, though I bit my tongue to try and keep them back. My heart felt as though it was tumbling down a spiraling path, falling and chipping and crushing with no support and no warmth to be sensed…

"Tell me the truth!! What happened to her, Sorata? What happened to Hinoto?" I yelled, my voice strangely weak and crackling like a child's.

"…The house came down on her in an explosion, Kurogane." 

Sorata had lost any nerve that he'd ever possessed. He was shrinking away from me, but I gripped him harder, forcing him to continue.

Bastard. You knew her, too. Tell me the truth, you damn coward…! 

"…Her roots, they…they'd entangled themselves with the power lines. She was electrocuted severely, and her body burst into flame. I could hardly get you out of there in time," he said, as though that would redeem him somehow. "By the time help came, it was too late to save her." He gazed at me apologetically. "I'm sorry…Kurogane…I never knew you were so attached to her."

A whimpering sigh escaped my lips, as my back fell numb against the wall. I could no longer will my eyes to look at him. I let go of his shoulders, burying my face in my hands. 

"Just…shut up, Sorata. Pitiful bastard…! You have no idea why I'm upset, do you...? If you don't understand why you're saying sorry, then just shut up. Don't say useless things to me, Sorata…"

He blinked, startled. "Kurogane…"

And so we sat like that, in what seemed to be an endless span of time, in a world of fabrication and beauty, inside the Heliotrope mansion. It was as silent as it was horrifying.

Hinoto was dead.

-

It was hardly two days later, when I was sitting at a table with Gingetsu, the head of the Scavengers. Sorata had moved back home, to the mainland. But I had stayed on Heliotrope Isle…I had nowhere else to go.

It was night, and the moonlight cascaded over the metallic table. I had a photo in my hand. It was of a fish man. The Scavengers referred to them as mermen…in clever relativity, they called the women mermaids. It was a wild specimen, and the newest conquest for my group, as far as I understood.

"We'd recently obtained this one from one of the merchant boats. They found him, tangled up in the huge nets. They thought he must've been choked to death, but it seemed that he got out with only a few scars," Gingetsu continued to explain, with that same unreadable expression on his face. "It's remarkably intelligent, considering that half of its body has already mutated wonderfully into a tail."

Indeed, it looked like one of the mermen of legend. Even I couldn't deny that. 

Fair skin…bright blue eyes, and pale blond hair…

It certainly looked intelligent. The photo had been taken in the merchant boat, with the specimen flopped out on the deck, staring into the camera's eye. It had a mischievous look on its face…an enigmatic smile. There was something about it that was utterly unlike the other mutations that I'd seen before. 

Its expression looked incredibly coy. A smart one. Fish mutations aren't generally that.

What a ridiculous smile…! 

"Kazuhiko verified that the fish would be delivered to this mansion tomorrow, at dawn, for a close inspection."

"Wouldn't that make it the fifth one that's come in lately…?" I remarked, puzzled. "There have been way too many new specimens these past few days as it is. Why did you accept another one? The crew is overworked!"

"We are the only group of Scavengers in this part of the mainland, and we cannot afford to put the fish in an environment too foreign. It isn't our choice, Kurogane, to accept or not accept new cases."

"But you all need to take care of the other ones, which would require making rounds through three different islands every day!" I reasoned. "And besides, there's a 2-day marine conservation conference that you all need to attend tomorrow!"

Gingetsu remained as cool as a cucumber through this, of course. "Yes, that is true. That is why we have decided that you will stay at the mansion and take care of the fish."

I blinked.

"You're not serious. I know nothing about counseling."

"We'll be overworked for the next two days. During this time, you can try it out as a test period, and notify us if there are any problems. All you need to do is take care of the specimen, and you will be paid as usual. We don't need a deck hand at the conservation conference, after all. Should you be successful during the two days, we could make it your stationary assignment for the next month."

"But, I - "

"Why? Are you about to say no?" He fixed me with a blank stare. "What other choice do you have? For one thing, it is necessary that you know you cannot stay here forever. Your house had been demolished in the accident, torn apart by fire and wood, but my pity for your condition would not serve your purposes forever. You need a plan, Kurogane."

I started, at a loss for words. 

A plan. For my life? The last thing in the world I was thinking about was that dirty old shack. 

Turning away from Gingetsu, I stared down at my hands, still clutching the photo tightly. The face of the merman in the picture was young and beautiful. He looked quite amused by the contraption that would capture his image forever. I could easily imagine myself taking care of the specimen, if he had no qualms about me. He didn't look the type to bite. 

But that's not what I'm worried about. 

"I can't risk making the same mistake that I made with Hinoto, Gingetsu." Bowing my head in morose defeat, I slid the picture back to him across the smooth surface of the table. "I can't. If I hurt this specimen, I'd never forgive myself. Never mind the damn money. I could find my way in the world somehow; despite my recent bad memory, I haven't forgotten how to struggle. Kick me out of your goddamn haunted mansion, and leave me in a wooden boat for the sea to swallow. Have someone bring me to the mainland, where the conglomerate wolves can hunt me down. I don't care."

I sighed heavily. "It's no worse than leaving my heart exposed." 

For a while, he just gazed at me, his elbows propped up on the table. I've heard that the silence around Gingetsu was like an aphrodisiac to women. Men found it harsh, frightening. It gave him a sense of discipline and regality that I didn't much care for myself. 'When he talks, you can generally bet that it's enlightening,' I heard Kazuhiko say once - that's one of the Scavengers that I work with…a so-called "friend" of Gingetsu's, if the man favored anyone.

Well, I await enlightenment, you cold bastard. It'd take a miraculous lot to convince me to take the job. 

"What is it that you want?" He finally said. It was an amazingly simple question.

"I want to get rid of this guilt."

"Then do what you want."

He stood up slowly, and flung the picture back at me. I caught it in midair, startled. "Guilt passes away when you repent. Repent by taking care of him…properly."

And so he walked away into the shadows, leaving me to stand at the table, astounded by the ease with which he carried out this proposition. 

Damn. Damn damn damn damn damn. 

He knows me too well. Too damn well…he knows that I'll take him on now. It's just his choice of words, the way he says them. Damn it. Damn him to hell. 

From outside the mansion, the waves splashed constantly, in a rhythmic, grinding dance against the silvery sand. The moonlight shone down as brightly as ever through the towering windowpanes, and I stared out at it, admiring its seemingly polished surface.

It's a lot like Gingetsu. From here, he's too bright for us to comprehend. When you get closer, however, you perceive that he has wounds…nooks and crannies that you cannot possibly explore. That's how he became so extraordinary. He is constantly peeping through windows, glaring down at pedestrians. He never misses a thing, and reflects the light from the godlike sun onto all of us. He reflects the light of holy judgment. 

I paused in my thoughts momentarily. 

I wonder if, like the moon, he has a weak, shadowed underbelly…? 

But it was too late to ponder that now. Slowly, I headed back to my chamber in the mansion, hoping that I could wake up at the crack of dawn…

Next chapter – the real story!! Yes, isn't it just amazingly slow? ^-^;;;


	3. The Miraculous Fish: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first) _

_Author's Notes: _

Whew! The last few chapters were purely explanatory, so rest assured, the story will flow more smoothly from now on. At the same time, they'll probably have less pure content and more ranting. Okey dokey? ^-^

Now, of course, the fish from the previous chapter was Fye. I don't think I really need to clarify that. ^-^;; But yeah, for those of you wondering, it was him. So, why is poor Fyefye a fish mutant? Off the top of my head, I can think up of quite a few reasons, and I'll tick them off in random order.

1. Fye always seems to be lazily daydreaming…there's a look to his eyes that suggest he's not quite as awake as Syaoran or Kurogane is in Tsubasa. Whatever he's doing, he doesn't feel threatened by the consequences. I would therefore assume that he's a lot like a lazy fish (I wonder if he's a Pisces?). The characteristics that I attribute to fish are generally laziness, lack of interest in the world, and imagination.

2. Another characteristic of the fish is mystery. They are very enigmatic creatures, for they are associated with water and illusion. What is real and what is not is mingled when a fish is stealthily traveling beneath the murky waters of the sea. It's partially why such creatures as sirens represent hidden desire and are as beautiful as a person can possibly imagine. Fye is certainly mysterious. He certainly appears to have secret desires. And his fangirls sure think he's beautiful, and that's good enough for me! ^-^;; (Personally, I think he's a goofy idiot. Eh. But you know, I wuv him to death. ^-^ )

3. Fye seems to get along well with Sakura-chan in Tsu-RC, who is, likewise, a very dreamy, mysterious, pretty and all around fishy girl (at least thus far). 

4. Fye grew up in a world named after Celes the water dragon (…Which is cool, but it has nothing on Windom. Yes, indeed, I'm going with the Tokyopop spelling). One would assume that such a world is also very fishy indeed.

5. You bet your ass, I was inspired by the "Mister Mermaid" manga!! -;; (Mizushiro Setona, you are some piece of work. But I mean that in the nicest of ways, of course. ^-^;;;)

Now, for the fic!

P.S.: A Siren is a bird-like creature, and a mermaid is a fish-like woman. Nothing alike, really, except that they're both seafaring mythological monsters, and both are very beautiful. I made a teensy mistake on the prologue with that bit of trivia… ^-^;; But don't worry. It's all clear to me now. (Nods) 

_Chapter 1: THE MIRACULOUS FISH_

_ Also known as_

_"The day Kurogane realized his stupidity"_

_Part 1_

Despite all the impulses of my nature, I managed to force myself out of bed with a low growl. And it sure as hell wasn't because I wanted to. A thump and a sizeable crash had startled me out of my heavy sleep, indicating that the poorly preserved Pufferfish Liner – our group's makeshift craft, which was no liner as far as I could tell, as it didn't even have the capacity to carry the legally required number of dinghys - had docked onto the beach, guided by the questionable navigational skills of one Motosuwa Hideki. 

There was a tinkling sound leaking in from the outside along with the wisps of fiercely cold air, as well, saccharine and piercing. 

What the hell is that god-awful noise…? 

Hurriedly hopping around the room, finding my clothes and trying to assemble myself in a composed manner, I slipped into my old jeans and a worn sweater without much thought, and bounded out of the room. Dashing across the hall, however, I decided swiftly that it would've been a blatant waste of time to scale the entire building just to get to one of the obscure exits (Gingetsu doesn't know how to design buildings for beans…) 

Propping open one of the gigantic windows, I leapt out onto the crumpled grasses in the surrounding gardens; normally lush with blooming turnsoles and pristine magnolias (don't ask me how the hell Gingetsu managed to plant two vastly different flowers in the same field and make it work), most of the flowers had shriveled up in the freezing clutches of the autumn in its prime, unusually cold this time of year. With a grim smile, I reminded myself with the sight that the Scavengers would have a hell of a time trying to work in the oncoming weather.

Gingetsu was right; there was no other choice. Being a deckhand in minus temperatures was not exceedingly good fun. I bore it with a few curses and some strong medication last winter, but even though my canine endurance level was high, I still had quite a bit of human in me. There's only so much I can be immune to, no matter how I mutate…

Damn, I'm glad I don't have to work on the boat. 

The sky above was clear and bright, and it dazzled me with its multitude of flowering colors. The sun had barely risen, as it had barely surfaced from the dark horizon. Indeed, it really was dawn. The burning orb in the sky was a gentle kindling of orange and rose, dampened by the vapor of the chilling air. On a bright afternoon, I couldn't stare at the bright sky without sneezing – it's kind of strange, but it is a reflex - but today, my eyes didn't suffer so much. It was a shame that I couldn't sit down in the rich soil of the garden and bask in the moment.    

Jogging briskly towards the vessel that had docked…um, sideways…I raised a hand and waved at Kazuhiko, who stood at the harbor in critical inspection while the crew disassembled. "Hey! Kazuhiko! What the hell did you assholes do to the boat without me? It's only been two days off! Did Hideki burst the engine again?"  

Even from a distance, I could hear Kazuhiko suck in his breath tentatively. The entirety of Heliotrope Isle was in a constant silence. Even the noisy seagulls don't shit anywhere near the frickin' bleached mansion of emptiness. "God, I hope not. But as you can see…" he sighed, "…the boat's a bit crooked."

"Hell, yeah," I muttered, sidling up to him. 

The wooden dock had been torn in by the front of the Pufferfish. Apparently, when they landed, a certain someone had accidentally crushed the front of the boat into the aforementioned dock before making a sharp turn and stranding the boat about 90 degrees off-kilter. 

It was a terrible sight, but apparently, no one was bothering to fix it. I wasn't surprised. Gingetsu had stayed back at Heliotrope Isle during my recuperating period. Without him - the boss of our motley crew - for even a couple of days, the ship was just a flaming accident waiting to happen. Clearly, no one was doing a damn thing.

Standing near the main sail, a flustered Hideki and a frustrated Kazahaya struggled with the anchor, encrusted with grayish patina and deformed from the salt that had eaten away at it for years. Yuuko and Watanuki – I was assuming, since this was all they ever seemed to do – were probably bickering down near the engine instead of actually examining for any blown fuses. Judging by the churning noise that now assailed my ears, it appeared that Kohaku was finishing off the laundry…the kid had a terrible sense of priority. Meanwhile, on the main deck, Rikuou appeared to be reading a book quite obliviously, and Suu, our residential winged mascot, lookout scout, and the only girl on the entire crew (monstrous old Yuuko doesn't count), seemed to be prancing around happily, jingling the bells that dangled from her new beige-colored dress…

…Oh. 

The bells. Dear god, the racket that is the bells. 

I glared menacingly at Kazuhiko, as the flurry of tones continued to ring clear. There was no sense in assuming that anyone else could've been the culprit this time. "Kazuhiko…about Suu's ridiculously ornamented dress…"

Kazuhiko blinked at me. "Huh?"

"Why the hell did you buy her that flimsy thing?" I hollered, pointing unabashedly at the overly feminine outfit. 

He gave me an innocent look, and a helpless shrug, though he was clearly about to burst out laughing. "W-Well, I don't – "

"You always buy her these goddamned dresses that get torn when she flies ahead to friggin' scout or get ruined by the salt water waves! You'd think you'd learn after the first couple of times, that every time you buy her expensive Piffle Princess clothing, it ends up looking like a piece of shit within the week!" I huffed angrily. "And the bells! The bells! Why the hell did you get all those prissy bells? Are you going to take away the damn holiday spirit from your Christmas Barbie, or am I going to have to bring my migraine pills the next time I see you?"

His face turned as red as a tomato, and he covered his mouth, coughing loudly. But with those eyes full of mirth, I didn't even consider them being real coughs for a second. His huge smile looked like it was going to burst any second.

"Don't you look at me funny, you sentimental bastard!" I yelled, as a fizzling snigger escaped his lips, followed by a bubbling stream of very un-Kazuhiko-like giggling. "This is serious business, damn it! If you're going to blow your paycheck playing dress-up with her, you might as well just fling it all back at Gingetsu and have him use it to go visit Ran in the mainland and get laid!"

"You want to repeat that again in my face, Kurogane?"

What – holy crap. 

My jaw practically dropped down into the mantle of the goddamned earth, as I saw Gingetsu proceeding down to the harbor. I heard a thump, and howling laughter beside me; I think Kazuhiko had collapsed and couldn't get up. Aboard the boat, Rikuou and Hideki peered down at the scene in shock, while Suu, being heavy on the birdbrain factor - blinked in simple confusion. Meanwhile, I could hear Kazahaya laughing so loudly it sounded as though he'd choked up a lung.

"G-Gingetsu!!" I stuttered, unable to say anything.

He glared amusedly at me. "You know, I could always withhold you from your new assignment."

"Well, that's no problem!" Kazuhiko laughed, when he finally managed to stand again. His face had turned a shade redder, reminiscent of the hue of drunkenness, but a strangely healthy look for the Kazuhiko who was normally brooding silently in a corner when trouble arose. He now looked at least five years younger. "Two days without Kurogane…and we'd already forgotten how much fun it was with him on the boat!" 

A loud din of mixed approvals followed this little proclamation.

Considering this, Gingetsu smirked. "Well, the last thing I'd want anyone to do is to have fun," he joked, though clearly, he had taken my commentary as a farce, as well. I should've known that he wouldn't have fired me, though. Secretly, I believed that he liked a little humor as much as anyone.

Thank God, for the queen is amused! But, um, seriously, he does need to get laid. Maybe during the winter holidays…and wouldn't – that - be a merry Christmas. 

"Come on, Kurogane. Let's have a look at the specimen," he headed towards the Pufferfish, signaling for me to follow. He glanced at me meaningfully. "And, just so you know, I can take a hint. I am going to visit Ran in the mainland, sometime around…Christmas, maybe." He grinned. 

Behind him, I froze in shock. 

The man is psychic. 

God help me… 

-

And God help me indeed was the general sentiment of the day, for when Gingetsu and I had actually gone up to the main deck and were directed to the cold, uninviting room wherein our little visitor was kept…well. Let's just go through the entire scene, shall we?

Suu had lead us both through the deserted passage of wooden floors and walls stained with alcohol residue…her obnoxious bells clinking against the soft fabric of her dress the entire way. Already, the dust and grime of the Pufferfish's inner belly had begun to taint the material, just as I'd predicted, and the fact that Suu tended to skip around didn't help matters, as the flamboyant folds simply collided with the walls every time she swished her hips. 

Just…never learns, does she? 

Yes, I was mentally chastising the poor girl again. 

It wasn't that I disliked Suu, or Kazuhiko's fondness for her. Even though it might've appeared that way, I was generally very supportive of the two…at heart, if nothing else. Ever since Kazuhiko had found Suu stranded on a rock at sea all alone with broken wings – she'd been attacked by a flock of seagulls - she'd been accepted as a part of the crew, though unpaid and without legal documents. She seemed to like us immensely. As a favor to Kazuhiko, who was genuinely taken with her adolescent charm, we hid her and made excuses whenever the Scavengers were inspected by higher authorities.  

For a good part, she was a bird, not much different from a household canary. Large wings the color of a pastel sunset erupted from her back, their shapely arcs curving out on either side of her shoulders. They were very glossy from her frequent preening, and no one could deny that she looked very cherubic and presentable at all times, but the wings shed often – she wasn't able to consume enough vitamins to keep them strong and healthy over the course of our seafaring trips – and small trails of fluff were often found in her wake, especially during the summer. She also had a long, durable tail that we often found her swaying as she dragged it across the floor (this was part of her sweeping job, and though it was quite efficient, her tail had adopted a grayish tinge from it). For entertainment on a dull expedition, she sang frequently with a shrill but very delicate voice that had a tinge of something not quite human. She sang often to amuse herself, for she couldn't read or write, having a fairly simple brain. But even though she didn't always figure things out, she meant well.

In any case. She led Gingetsu and myself down the hall, as I'd mentioned previously, all while Hideki – a rookie on the team, who fulfilled the job in order to get credits for his schooling on the mainland – chattered happily about the specimen: his scales' healthy turquoise hue, his flawless medical examination, his tame demeanor, his successful adaptation to the environment closer to the mainland, ad nauseum. He'd informed me that the merman wasn't given a name yet, and so he left that job up to me. While I'm no good with names, I accepted this without question; after all, if we'd let him decide, he would've named the specimen 'blurb' or 'bubble' (he'd once named a siren 'Chii', because that was all that she could chirp…). Heh. Simple-minded bumpkin.

Hideki, like Suu, meant well, but spoke a lot more often, and most frequently to the air. He was a hard-working kid who got lost a lot while trying to steer the Pufferfish, and was generally more trouble than he was worth. 

But hell, we needed someone like that to make Kazahaya look good.

Meanwhile, said Kazahaya had already headed down to the place where the merman was supposedly being kept, probably wanting to take credit for his excellent job at tidying up the specimen's aquarium. Upon our arrival, there was heard a swift crash, as he dashed out of the room, tripped over a bucket full of filthy water, and landed – colliding on his jawbone - on the hardwood floor. 

"OW!"

"Holy shit! Kazahaya, what the hell are you trying to do?" I gaped at him, as he hissed from the blow, tentatively moved his jawbone back and forth, and sprung up as though he hadn't nearly crushed his walnut-sized brain. 

Although, this really shouldn't have surprised me, since the kid was partially feline (the ears and the waggling tail sort of gave it away…).  

But normally, a cat landed on his feet, correct? Well, so did our Kazahaya, even when he's hyperventilating…which was truly a day-to-day occurrence. But just now, bounding into our paths from God knows where, he landed squarely on his jaw. And to clarify the rarity of such an accident, not even Rikuou could get him agitated enough to fall over (nor could he by any other means, of course…eheh). 

And the fact that he was panicking now could've only foreboded very, very bad things. 

"The – The specimen!" He managed to sputter between gasps. "It's g-gone!"

-

"That doesn't make any sense!" Hideki scoffed, checking the room himself. "He's a fish, how can he…"

But laying eyes upon the sight, his voice was cut off, and all that was emitted was a helpless sort of choking sound. 

The giant indoor aquarium, slightly below the height of the ceiling, had been built in place for water specimens, and we used it for all manners of deformed creatures. We called it the Submarine Heart. Vast and spacious, it was made of inch-thick glass, and protected with waterproof coatings. It was barred off at the top with steel, and locked several times. And for extra measure, we'd hooked up wires to the regulation controls for temperature and salinity, in order to activate a gentle electric shock for our captive, should they have tried to tinker with the rusted contraptions. Of course, it was nowhere enough to kill them or wound them…just enough to generate a sense of fear and caution. They'd feel numb in the hands for a few days.

We called it the Submarine Heart because the small power box at the top of the aquarium – where all the controls and wire connections were located – was constantly humming, like a live thing. 

Well. Imagine Hideki's surprise…and ours…as we beheld our little foolproof safe. The sealed layer of the aquarium had been cracked open savagely, its barred door ajar and the alarm system soundless, save for a gentle crackling of electricity. The metallic locks were scattered around the floor, many of them crushed, as though punctured through the center by means of a cudgel.

Most astonishing was the power box at the top of the sealed aquarium, which had fallen into the waters in a lifeless trance. Its wire connections had been pulled out, and many of its vital innards were torn out, or cut to shreds. But most certainly, it had been deactivated before it had carelessly plunged in.

It had ceased to hum. The Heart had died. 

Goddamn it…! What the hell kind of clever little Gremlin…? 

As we beheld this with utter disbelief, Suu tilted her head slightly, and blinked. She touched Gingetsu lightly on the shoulder (he was as stupefied as anyone, and that's saying a lot in his case). "Gingetsu…the system…would it not…?" She managed in a tentative voice.

"Exactly. It should've killed the little bastard," I murmured, answering for my superior. 

I wasn't a technical artist. I had never, in my life, to follow the strict regulations of such an awkward profession. I disliked linear shapes, statistics, the type of care and patience it took to draw technical diagrams…

…But I was an artist, and I did aid Rikuou and Watanuki in drawing the preliminary designs for the Heart.

I had designed the bars, the placement of the wiring, the approximate size of the Submarine Heart…the layers of safety glass. And so on, and so forth. Granted, Watanuki was the one who was calculating the specific measurements, and Rikuou was the one who'd provided the materials and worked out a schedule for the acquirement of said materials, not to mention the assembling process. But I did provide the blueprints, and I did have to make a lot of executive decisions. I put in at least 20 hours of work into the aquarium's construction. 

So…yeah…seeing it like that? It hurt me.

It always hurt like hell to see a piece of your own work fall apart. Bashed to pieces. Rendered ineffective. Dissembled like a child's toy by some idiotic fish specimen. Even though it wasn't my fault, I felt like a pitiful excuse for an artist and a worker at that moment. Even my normally rigid expression betrayed the futility and disappointment I felt inside. An angry beast roars loudly and bawls just as loudly, I suppose. With the Heart went a bit of my own. I truly felt like a piece of shit.

All around me, everyone was debating over the impossibility of the event.

"How could he possibly open the cage without getting electrocuted…?" Hideki enquired, bewildered. "The severity of the shock increases with every bit of damage done to the Heart. The specimen shouldn't have ever gotten his hands on the power box…at least, not before he was fried into a coma!"

As he said this, Gingetsu (having regained his composure in a manner of seconds) waltzed right into the room, and stuck his hand into the water without a moment's doubt, fishing up the defective power box. He shook it a bit, allowing the water droplets to splash and fizzle on the ground. 

"I'm no expert at this. We'll have to get Watanuki or Yuuko to see this, but…" He peered through his ever-present sunglasses at the tip of a wire that he'd grasped between thumb and forefinger, "…these look suspiciously like knife marks…"

Kazahaya had been thrown into a panicking frenzy at the mention of knives. "T-That's insane! The only things that came remotely close to the sharpness of a knife on that specimen were his dorsal fins! And we'd seen worse before! Besides, the wires were teeming with electricity! In order to slice up the power box, wouldn't he have had to have a knife that wasn't made out of metal?"

"Or, at least, he would've needed something to diffuse the power flow," I whispered, scratching my chin and immersing myself into the mystery as well. "He might've simply splashed the water onto the wires, and left them to fry for a few…"

"The bastard is not that smart! He's a fish!!" Both Hideki and Kazahaya yelled in unison. 

"What scares me the most is that there is an alarm equipped into the system also," I continued, ignoring the two. "It would've alerted us immediately. But look." I directed my gaze at Gingetsu, who'd pulled out a thin red wire from the contents of the box - hardly visible to a normal merman's eye - that ended abruptly after a length. "That was slashed as well."

I shook my head in confusion and awe. "What kind of evolved bastard is he…?"

While all this was going on, one of us was not displaying the least bit of understanding or interest. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Suu, our little helper, eagerly tending to…well, the bucket that Kazahaya had tripped on, of all things. It was in the center of the walkway. She must've though we had a lot of gall just leaving it there for another innocent victim.

Simple girl. Well, at least she's dim-witted enough to be practical…something I can't say for our majority. 

I'll have to talk to Kohaku. He's usually the one on mop duty…

Unaware that the edges of her dress were sopping wet from the disgusting mopped-up water, our lovely young songbird proceeded to go across the hall, where she would find her fellow bird Kohaku to borrow a much-needed mop. It was then that something struck me. 

Damn Suu and her simplicity, her content with every little thing. All the same…

Isn't it true that Suu always sees the things that we overlook…? 

"Suu!" I started, reaching out towards her. Around me, the others overheard, and looked towards me, wanting to see what was the matter.

By God, this might actually work…! 

Placing a hand on her shoulder, I turned her around, forcing her to look directly at me. On any given day, Suu's head was usually up in the clouds. She had a difficult time registering words unless you looked directly into her eyes as you said them at close proximity. And you had to keep it real simple. "Listen. A fish had escaped its jar. It should've been caught…it should've been killed. But it isn't. You understand this." 

It wasn't a question. Suu nodded, hesitantly, but there was a definite conviction in her evergreen eyes. 

I smiled grimly. "Good girl. Now, to solve the riddle, you can ask me any question. Any question at all. Quickly, now."

The girl drew a shallow breath. She placed a finger on her lip, as if physically disallowing herself to make a foolish mistake before she'd had time to think it out. It was a habit of hers. I could almost hear her think, her breathing accentuating every twist and turn her mind had taken. Her eyes – the clearest windows into her soul, and widely accepted as her most beautiful features - closed, opened…

"A fish…cannot walk. Did the fish fly?" She asked in a soft, innocent voice.

Yep, this segment is split in two as well. Don't worry…this won't become a habit. I hope. -;;;


	4. The Miraculous Fish: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first) _

_Author's Notes: _

Gaah…I just wrote and wrote and wrote and I couldn't help myself. I just had to explain about the crew of the Pufferfish down to the very last detail… ^-^;; Forgive me! Of course, fans of Tsu-RC probably know who all those people were anyway. -;; 

Nevertheless, I'll provide a little list for the sake of reference. Kazuhiko, Gingetsu, and Suu (not to mention Ran, who may or may not appear later on) are from Clover, arguably the most profound piece of work that CLAMP has ever made (even though I am open to outside opinions, I'll have you know that book three nearly made me cry; I swear to God, it's true…the only thing that CLAMP had ever made to make me really cry was Tokyo Babylon Old, and that was an exceptionally heavy-handed chapter). 

Yuuko and Watanuki are from XXXHolic, and Kazahaya and Rikuou are from Gouhou Drug (both very cute stories, and as addictive as anything, but I'll be damned if I could ever unearth an ongoing plot underneath all that silliness…). 

Hideki (And Chii! Don't forget Chii! -;;;) is from Chobits, a very fun futuristic story save for the fact that the occasional nudity seemed a bit forced in later chapters. Aaaaaand, lest I forget, the adorable Kohaku is from Wish (simple, sweet, and a real bitch for those of us who cannot live without detailed artwork, and who have complained constantly from the recent simplicity of CLAMP's shounen-styled art – to whom I'll say, "YOU FICKLE BASTARDS!! Read the damn story!" ^-^;;; Ahahahaha…okay, I'll stop now.).

So, yeah…and, as a sidenote, if anyone's wondering, Sorata has not disappeared off the face of the earth!!  -;; He'll be back. I just…don't know when. Eeeek. ^-^;;;

And Kurogane…as an artist, of all things? Eheh. I realize that it's not the most credible idea in the world. But I'll see if I'm a good enough amateur writer to make it work. 

_Chapter 1: THE MIRACULOUS FISH_

_ Also known as_

_"The day Kurogane realized his stupidity"_

_Part 2_

I blinked. Realization dawned on my face, as I let go of Suu's frail shoulders. She, still as thoughtful as ever, immediately continued in her search for Kohaku and the Amazing Mop.

Her answer… 

It was so deceptively simple.

Suu's right. Damn it, but she's so right…! Don't worry about the details. Worry about the present, the now…when a serious problem is posed, we can't linger on the specifics! Pack them up, and solve them on the way! The most important thing for us now is to contain our problem before it erupts into something bigger that requires explanation! 

"Did the fish fly?" By God, Suu, you hit it. The fish hasn't flown. Not yet. But we can't let our questions get in the way of stopping it from escaping altogether! 

"Gather up the crew! Have them spread out through the ship! The fish can't fly. Don't you get it?" I yelled at them, as they stared at me stupidly. "No matter what, a fish can't walk, and like Suu said, it certainly cannot fly. That means that our specimen isn't gone already. He must still be here!"

"Did the fish fly?" Gingetsu echoed thoughtfully, as he trotted out of the room. "No, it couldn't. It could only flap about aimlessly, blindly. Did the fish fly? If it hadn't flown, then it could only flop outside of the jar." He gazed at us in thought. "It appears that he is still right underneath our noses, gentlemen."

"Exactly! He can only crawl, and by crawling, he couldn't have escaped yet! He's only had a little time to escape, considering how often we check on our specimens…but if we hesitate for too long, and he crawls off the Pufferfish," I gasped, "Then we've really lost him to the sea! So don't concern yourself with how he got away! We can't let him swim away for good!"

-

With that in mind, we swiftly assembled our forces, and divided ourselves up into five even groups. The Pufferfish Liner, despite its modest appearance, was actually quite spacious on the inside. In order to cover every floor of the boat, which included any storage rooms large enough to hold a flapping fish, we definitely had to split up. To be more specific, every group had to contain at least one person with enhanced senses of smell, sight, or hearing, as the specimen that we were dealing with was beyond ordinary. Obviously. 

Well, I didn't have any of these. I wasn't quite mutated enough. Luckily for me, though, Suu had the latter of the two requirements, and so she and I decided to cover the top deck together. It was going to be relatively simple; the top deck didn't have any nooks or crannies to explore, so one quick glance would be all. 

Of course, Kazuhiko was a bit pissed off, since he was the one who volunteered to work with Suu at every opportunity. Hell, I could care less about that guy; he was lucky. He got to be with Gingetsu, who could probably tell the damn humidity just by opening his mouth to the air. 

Our leader was sort of like an albino alligator, you could say. You wouldn't think he was mutated so severely, but he was. Everyone who had been with the Scavenger crew at the beginning had seen Gingetsu's reptilian eyes…I think it had something to do with a storm at sea, when his first pair of sunglasses had been shattered; for me, considering the fact that I was still one of the newest members of the group, seeing what was behind the shaded lenses was a constant mystery. But I think I'd seen something else about him recently that the rest of the crew hadn't seen before. 

When Gingetsu was changing his gloves back at the mansion one day, after tending to the garden, I saw his hands. They were as white as frost in the pale sunbeams, and completely covered with row upon row of spade-shaped scales…of course, soon after, he saw me watching him, and quickly turned away. Psychic…I swear. 

There was no doubt in my mind that with his developed senses, he could find the specimen in no time at all, if he could ever be found.

When all five groups went about their search, Suu and I hurriedly raced to the top level. Scaling the wooden stairs, we emerged at the top of the Pufferfish Liner, and immediately scanned the area. There was no sign of life anywhere. 

"Goddamn it!" I cried, as I examined the floor. The ship was cleaned thoroughly every week, and it had been mopped this morning. We could've found out whether the specimen had crossed this area if we'd seen a distinct trail, but it was difficult to distinguish one trail of water with the next when the entire floor was completely wet. 

Being careful not to trip in my haste, I walked around the sails and the steerage, exploring the sides of the ship, anticipating at any moment to see the merman trying to crawl away, but…

"It's not here…!" I exclaimed, utterly confused. The entire span of the boat was laid out before me and behind me, but it was completely devoid of any life. I walked around a few more times in a roundabout fashion, as though expecting to notice something that I'd missed before. I was an idiot to do so. "Damn waste of time…Suu, I can't hear the others. The ship isn't so big that ten people in five groups can't split up and be done searching around it in two or three minutes. Have any of them hollered in the last little while that they'd found the merman?"

Suu shook her head helplessly, and I slapped my forehead irritably. 

"What the hell is going on?"

-

Sighing heavily, I gave up on the spot. It was too troublesome. If the specimen were really smart enough to escape the Heart, logically, he wouldn't have come onto the top deck, where he could've been spotted with such ease. No…if he was truly that intelligent, and the escape hadn't been a fluke (impossible, really), chances are, he would've tried to hide himself in the engine room, or maybe the storage cell. Somewhere densely packed, where he wouldn't have been noticed so easily. That's where he would've gone.

Either that, or it's really just too little, too late. 

Hell…in any case, it's time to call it quits. It's useless to keep at something when it isn't practical. 

"Suu, find the others; tell them we found nil. I'll stay here, and wait. Maybe the creeping little bastard would decide to come up on board afterwards, so I'll just…keep watch. Go." 

I waved her off. I could almost hear her hesitating, wondering whether or not it was wise to leave me by myself. 

Well, shit, I could've answered that for her. It wasn't wise. Suu had the senses to detect a fish, and I did not. Even if everything around us smelled like fish, and she couldn't distinguish the specimen by smell alone, at least her sharp eyes could've caught sight of him much faster than mine, and at least she could've heard him scuffling around much more easily than I could. 

The truth was, I just needed to be alone for a while. It was exhausting, and nerve-wracking. There was something altogether uncanny about that damn merman. He escaped an electric prison. He dragged itself God-knows-where on the ship. 

And I needed to tend him for two whole days. Heck, if I could survive through that, Gingetsu would reward me with a month.

What if we find the specimen, and another escape occurs? What then? What the hell did they expect me to be able to do? Stop the thing? Unlikely. He seemed smarter than most of us crewmembers combined. But if I took responsibility for it, I would've been stuck with the blame, regardless of how hard I tried. 

I massaged my temple with my large, clumsy hands. Sensing my unease, Suu departed as quietly as possible. I could hear the soft pitter-patter of her light soles as her footsteps retreated, down the hollow wooden stairs, and around the corner to search for Watanuki and Yuuko, who'd taken their search on the floor right below. Downright graceful creature. 

God…I wish I were that graceful whenever I failed. 

And so I stood there, my eyes closed, my head swaying gently to the rhythm of the lapping waves around the dock. There was a certain measure of tranquility to this disturbing silence, I realized. But perhaps, Gingetsu knew that all along. Maybe it was something you just had to become accustomed to, to notice when there was nothing else to notice, and no other to confide to but the noisy breathing of the sea. 

The sea was there for every depressed poet, every drunken rogue. No matter how lonely one was on Heliotrope Isle, it was always going to be an isle, and there was always going to be the patient sea, to talk to and to listen to. 

Gingetsu. Poor bastard. He's probably murmured sweet nothings to the sea a billion times, now. 

The waves were being particularly gentle today…as if they weren't every single day. On my old island, now defunct once again with no suitable shelter and electrical supply (in her rage, Hinoto had torn down the lone telephone post there, making survival there a very farfetched thing indeed), the land was raised above the water. The waves were constantly bellowing against the steep crags surrounding. It was a nauseating repetition of foam and tide. Here, though, the island ascended smoothly from the beaches and the sands, making the waves sound infinitely less irritating.

I sighed. Nothing but the sound of the sea and the quiet clamoring below deck…ugh. I sound like a moron. 

But it is relaxing. Maybe I won't worry so much. 

We are a bunch of incompetent assholes, aren't we? Spread out for this long and still can't find a fish… 

…Hm? 

What's that odd sound…? 

I blinked, opening my eyes to the cold, forlorn sea. I struggled to find the source of the strange sound. Twisting my neck around, I squinted across the shoreline laid out on either side of me. To my left, first…then right…

It sounds like…clapping…? 

My eyes widened and my jaw fell slack, as I was smote with staggering disbelief. 

Holy flying chimpanzees. 

Kurogane, you blind, dawdling, pathetic excuse for a human being - !! 

At the very edge of the shore, just a few feet away from the dock, was the merman himself. Sitting upon a boulder, he was in the very shadow of the Pufferfish Liner all along, and so close to the sea that he could've dove offshore and swam to safety with jarring ease. 

I stood on the top deck, still staggering from the impossibility of it all. For a second, I managed to form a coherent thought: that he might not have been the right merman. 

Maybe he's a wild one. Maybe he's not the one we're looking for, but had just drifted ashore from God knows where onto Heliotrope. Maybe he's lost, and lonely, and…and… 

…And maybe the world is flat and I'm a flounder! Kurogane, you dumbass! You saw it in the goddamn photo yesterday!! How the hell can you deny it?   

Too true. There was no doubting that he was the right one. In place of legs, he had a long, slender turquoise tail, glistening with shimmering drops of seawater in the newly arisen sun. Seemingly frail and docile-looking (but I saw him for the little devil that he was, oh yes I did…), his skin was as pale as ivory, and his large eyes were glassy and heavy-lidded (And patronizing! And baleful! And malicious! A-And…). His hair was nearly colorless, not unlike Suu's, but the curled strands had a quality to them, the same as that of sun-speckled clouds, a gentle yellow. And his delicate hands…

They…were…clapping.

That's where I heard that noise! That's where I - 

- Wait. That doesn't make any…

…Oh, no. 

You did NOT call attention to yourself just to taunt me. 

But that clever smile suggested otherwise. That's right…he'd clapped to get my attention. 

He probably saw me pace around the top deck in my befuddled frenzy. 

Stupid, stupid Kurogane. 

I glared down at it, dumbfounded and enraged. And, just when I thought that the role reversal of man versus mutant had gone far enough, and the situation could not possibly get any more confusing…

He spoke.

Loudly.

"Hey!" Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called up to me in a shrill, cheery voice. "Don't act so surprised! It wasn't as though you were looking particularly hard!"

If I had any less self-control, I would've fallen over. 

No fish specimen that we'd ever caught, save for one particular half-shark, could grasp the concept of grammar; they couldn't get the proper functions of the words "I" and "you", and their interchangeability, even with the entire Scavenger crew pounding it into their brains. But this thing…

It understands. Holy crap, but it understands…! And it can enunciate without any human help! 

As though perceiving my thoughts (well, it did scare the shit out of me, so I suppose my face betrayed that fact), he laughed, the sound ringing clear in my numb ears. It didn't act threatened at all. "Well? Aren't you going to catch me?"

Catch him? C-Catch him? Did he just say that…? 

To put it simply, there was only one thing that I could think of doing at that particular moment in my life, and it was not attempting to catch a damn fish. 

"G-G-GINGETSU!!!!"

-

Immediately, I heard a loud clamoring at the base of the stairs, as almost the entire collective of incompetent Scavengers tripped over one another while trying to dash – at breakneck speed – to my rescue. There was a united crash onto the wooden deck. 

"OW! Rikuou! That's my neck you stepped on!!"

"Mmph!"

"Oh! Sorry…sorry! Kazuhiko…"

"Yuuko!! Would you STOP entangling your limbs with everyone on purpose?"

"Eheheh…Watanuki! You have no sense of fun…"

"AAAARGH!!"

There was havoc immediately, as everyone found that Yuuko, with her long sticky octopus limbs, fully equipped with suction cups, had trapped everyone together in a massive pile-up. Amidst the disorderly shouts and yelps of pain, as well as the occasional sputtered curse, our leader was the only one who remained calm enough to step over the mess of arms and legs. Naturally.

"Kurogane. Did you find the specimen?" He asked, with a look that was, perhaps, even more grim and depressed than usual. That was understandable, considering the crew had not only failed in their search, but had made an ass of his leadership by tripping over the stairs and degrading the seriousness of the situation.  

If I had any time back then to think about how funny it really was, then I might've dropped down on the deck and laughed until I gained a concussion. But…no. I just had to open my damn trap instead and make a fool of myself.

"T-That fish! I-It talked to me!" I bawled like an infant. 

Gingetsu closed his eyes at this, scratched his temple in exasperation, and gazed at me disappointedly, as though he'd expected me to be the lone sane, competent person on the Pufferfish who could be relied upon…up until a few moments ago. "Kurogane."

"I swear! Goddamn it, Gingetsu, it talked to me with legitimate grammar and everything!"

Of course, he said nothing. Just looked at me blankly, then proceeded to untangle the pile of bodies and moved right on with business.

BASTARD! 

-

Thankfully (though it was questionable how thankful I actually was…), our capricious specimen didn't put up a struggle of any sort. He simply waited patiently while the massive jumble of bodies was individually sorted out, and then smiled as Gingetsu lowered himself off the boat to greet him. The damn thing didn't even flinch. When our leader boarded the ship again, he had in his arms the innocent-looking merman, harmless to look at with his adorable blue eyes.

Of course, upon seeing him, I nearly hurled myself off the ship.

Everyone was pretty convinced that the stress of the search had impacted my vision, and that I hallucinated the merman talking to me. Watanuki even attempted to take my temperature. I flipped them all off, ranted maniacally for a few; then, seeing as they were never going to believe me anyway, and Kazuhiko was already searching for the number of the asylum, I decided to shut up and sulk in a corner instead. 

Besides, how the hell did I know I didn't hallucinate it? I could've easily hallucinated it. At that point, a logical explanation was all I wanted to believe. It would've provided a little sanity. A little tranquility, even. 

But I can't believe it! I KNOW what happened! The goddamned fish talked, and there's no getting around that! 

I glared at the specimen contemptuously, murderously even. He was being packed up in a standard-issue plastic bag that enclosed him completely. He giggled like a cherub as Yuuko finished the process with her many octopus legs, loosely tying a coil of rope around the top to seal it off, but not cutting off its air supply. In his transparent prison, there had been poured enough water to submerge his tail, and to hydrate his body. The bag was to be wheeled away on a cart to the mansion, in order to make the transferring process easier, and then he was to be kept in one of the swimming pools therein.

I ought to strangle you. You know what the hell you did, and you're keeping your hole shut. But why? 

The truth was, I knew perfectly well why. If he'd openly admitted that he could speak, he would've been sent to the lab on the mainland for experimentation and a series of tests that would span months at a time. Somehow, he seemed to know that it was dangerous.   

How smart is this specimen…? 

"Well, that's all done," Yuuko grunted, as she hefted the bag onto its cart, sized appropriately. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, she turned to grin sadistically at me. "You know, this assignment could kill you, if you continue to linger on what he said."

It was curious to note that her exact words were "what he said", not the sympathetic "what you thought he said" that Hideki used. It might've been because I slapped Hideki silly after he said those words, but not likely. Yuuko was just…odd. Her philosophy was rooted in belief: if you believe something occurred, who's to say it didn't occur? 

At that point in time, it was one of the only philosophies I could digest. I swallowed.

"Yuuko…you don't suppose there's a silver lining to this cloud?"

"Well, what do you think?" She questioned, smirking. 

"Don't you answer my question with another goddamned question, you wench." I was in no mood to be patronized.

"I'm not patronizing you."

My eyes widened in horror. "Not you, too…!"

She cackled wickedly, tossing her long black hair…then doubled over, coughing. But when she recovered from her fit, she still beamed as delightfully as ever. I admired that about her.

Yuuko was a sinister-looking creature, with her eight long legs, her yellow eyes, and the purplish hue of her pale skin. She was mutated most heavily from the waist down, though two of her octopus tentacles did have toes attached to them, a disturbing sight. She had an air of superiority and self-reliance that wasn't overplayed by shallow words, which I liked in a woman. She had to pay more attention to her health than anyone else on the crew, because not only did she have to submerge her legs in water every hour or so, but she also had to take constant medication, particularly painkillers, because of her inner mutation.

The doctors once filed a medical report on Yuuko's condiction, which was delivered to the boat where everyone was able to see it. That was a few months ago. As she was one of the only octopus mutants in existence, and one of the most heavily affected, she was constantly being monitored by the hospital. 

It turned out that Yuuko's organs, bones, and genitalia were mutating away. It was already determined that she would not be able to have children, and her spine would collapse in about another ten years. She faced the possibility of becoming brain-dead, succumbing to numbness, and developing AIDS, due to her rapidly deteriorating immune system. Out of the list they sent Yuuko from her doctors, this was only a few conditions that they named, the most significant. They were terrified of the results. They implored her to retire to a hospital bed, to give up work, and to sustain her health.

When we showed Yuuko that letter a few months ago, she wasn't angry with us for having found it. She simply threw back her head, laughed in the face of death, and proceeded to light a cigar. We were shocked. It was hardly a decision for her, to keep on working, to be a Scavenger. That was her life. And so she never sent an answer to the hospital.

Needless to say, I'd developed a sort of respect for Yuuko. She's a strong woman, with her priorities in order. It was a known fact amongst the crew that she often gave the best advice. She was like a mother to us. Just…slightly insane.  

So I listened, as she went on.

"You must understand that Gingetsu has a secret agenda. He always has hidden motives for everything he does."

I scoffed. "You can say that again."

"The fact of the matter is, he put this specimen in your keeping, not simply because you need the extra pay and a new place to stay. He gave this specimen to you to fulfill your wish," she explained.

"My wish…?" I blinked.

"You don't know," she murmured, shaking her head in disapproval. "Well, goodness knows you said it often enough in front of us, both when you were drunk and sober. It's become such a part of you that you don't even acknowledge its existence anymore." She glared at me tiredly, as I stared back at her, not comprehending. "To not be alone, Kurogane…! That was your wish." 

I was startled. She was right…it was my wish. And I'd said it often. Too often. I'd complained about it when I was living on the mainland, on the island with Sorata, and even now on Heliotrope Isle…

"I don't want you to think I take you all for granted."

"I think it's a different kind of loneliness than that, Kurogane." She smirked mysteriously.

But before I had any time to ponder what she meant by that, a voice called from below the ship. "Kurogane! Leaving time!"

It was Kohaku, I realized, with his birdlike gentleness and his broken sentences. Hastily grabbing the handle of the cart that held the watery package, I stumbled over to the side of the boat, where Rikuou had already set up a ramp for me. "Okay! Okay! I'm going, already."

"You'd better be. We're behind schedule as it is," Rikuou told me sternly, as I carefully lowered the specimen and myself down the ramp. "We should've been to the conference twenty minutes ago, and we would've been, if you'd only looked under the ship and found him in time. Gingetsu was supposed to deliver a speech when we arrived."

"Screw you," I retorted. Neither of us meant what vulgarities we said, of course, and I grinned at him as my feet touched solid ground again.   

"Good luck with the assignment!" Hideki yelled from the steerage, peering up from his map. 

"Watch your parking, kid! And take care of yourself, Yuuko," I bade farewell to the residential witch with a smile on my face, and went on my way down the road with my new responsibility, down to the mansion of serenity and bleached white dreams…

-

The Pufferfish liner was out of earshot in no time, with Hideki zigzagging like a maniac against the wind and into the horizon. That kid would kill us all someday. 

Halfway to the mansion, I stopped. For one thing, climbing up the slope was a hell of a lot of work, particularly when you were dragging dead weight. And for the second…

"You and I need to have a talk," I turned around, and glared at the innocent looking face in the plastic bag. 

The specimen tilted his head, his stupid smile still affixed to his face.

If only glares could kill… 

"Don't give me that. I know what I heard, damn it. Now you listen to me, and you listen well," I told him severely, maintaining eye contact at all times, and delivering my speech in a threatening whisper. "Another incident like that will not happen again, you little upstart. For the next two days, you're going to be as docile as you look. Don't mock my intelligence. Don't destroy anything the way you carelessly destroyed the Heart. Don't make me hurt you. I'll die before I become anybody's bitch, you got that?"

"…So Yuuko's advice didn't mean anything to you?" He queried smartly, opening his mouth for the first time since he duped us all. He was still grinning like a half-wit, and it irritated the hell out of me.

"I've only got one hand on this cart, and there's a descending slope right behind you. Care to try me?"

"All right, all right…" The merman laughed jovially. "So what is it that you want?"

I sighed heavily, and averted my gaze. Staring into another person's eyes was hard work. His were particularly feminine and shapely; at any moment, I was afraid of assuming he was as innocent as he looked and going easy on him. But at least I got him to talk again, and we were getting somewhere. "You got a name?"

He smiled. "You wouldn't rather assume?"

"Facts. Now. Or else I'll let go, and watch you split your head open on any given boulder that comes your way."

"You can call me Fye."

…Argh…this was too much like a teasing game. Fye, huh? 

"And you can call me Kurogane, and you can call this home until we throw you into an institution and let the mad scientists have their way with you." I shrugged. "Well, at least it's a start."

And that's what I call progress! The two main characters both have NAMES now!!

I ought to take a course in logical pacing. -;; But so should Kurt Vonnegut, and you don't see him going! ^-^;;;;;;;;;;;;; Ahaha…yeah. I'll stop now. Another update in a week, give or take a few days! 


	5. Surprise, Surprise: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

Ooh! Ooh! (Starts hooting like a banshee) EARLY UPDATE!! 0;;

One might question the wisdom of basing a fic around Kurogane, considering that a lot of fangirls of Tsu-RC do not seem to like him very much…and to this I scream "WHY???" -;; 

Um, well, actually, I sort of know why. He's no bishounen, being big-boned, tall, and slightly hunched over. He's vulgar, easily upset, and prone to violence. He hates Mokona with a passion. He insulted Tomoyo (and it's incredibly hard not to root for Tomoyo…). He didn't want to help Syaoran at all on his quest to save Sakura's life. In nearly every which way, these fangirls believe that he is completely undeserving of being paired up with our charming, goofy, lovable Fye. Or, at the very best, he should've gone with Tomoyo (ah…that quote from Chapitre 7 caught us all off guard; you know what I'm talking about). 

I understand. There are a lot of people who would say he was a total bastard. But I happen to think that Kurogane is awesome, perhaps even (dare I say it?) as awesome as Fye (_Shocked Reader_: *gasp* BLASPHEMY!!), and I am fully capable of defending this opinion (dear God, am I going to be flamed for this… -;;;;). 

For one thing, he's got his priorities in order. The man wants to get home, and he means business about it. He's not ridden with hidden angst, like Fye, nor is he ridden with visible angst, like Syaoran. Whatever he wants to do, he does, and he says only what he means. Very firm and calculative…I can think of so many bishounen off the top of my head that can't be as affirmative and clever as he is. I do believe that he's got some sort of brain underneath that brawn.

A second reason…he's noble. He's lethal, but to some extent, he's got morals. He lives to defend his princess, like a good ninja. Kurogane is absolutely devoted to Tomoyo, and remembers his loyalty to her wherever he goes. One would imagine that he'd served Tomoyo with integrity all his life, and wouldn't commit himself even to a wife for the sake of his princess (his status as a ninja is the only thing keeping him from marriage, I bet; despite all his gruffness, he would make a great husband, and if there are any other women in Japan country besides Tomoyo and Souma, they'd probably be attracted to him ^-^).

My third reason. Have you seen the way the man fights? Despite all his goofiness outside of battle, he's really quite competent when there's a task at hand. Plus, he wielded Zagato's sword in Hanshin. ^-^ (Also, another very cool black-haired guy…)

Fourthly…Kurogane really does make up most of the comedy in Tsu-RC. He's a total goof, and there is no getting around that! Syaoran's always so serious, the poor boy, and Fye's grinning and calculative and constantly asking smart questions, which serves his personality well. But if you watch closely, and I know you do, you can always see Kurogane off in a corner buying comic books, looking at Piffle Princess advertisements, or bickering with Mokona…you name it, he's done it. CLAMP uses him for shameless self-advertising more than any other character…but it is hilarious watching him! It always seems that, curiously enough, while the others are inquiring in their new worlds, he is the one who is silently observing (you bet your ass, it's the ninja factor). And you really have to see everything he does in order to realize that his silent curiosity is not unlike the curiosity of the average guy clumsily wandering around the shoujo manga shelves in a bookstore to check out what all the fuss is about. I love that human quality about him. 

And last but not least, he gets to beat up Mokona (I'm having Rayearth déjà vu; I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be Ryuuzaki Umi's uncle, or something… ^-^;;)! Mokona is cute, but has a tendency to overdo it sometimes. It's wonderful to have someone there to counterbalance Mokona's insane amount of cuteness. ^-^

And so there you have it, just some of the reasons why I root for Kuro-chan, who is highly underrated! ^-^;;;; But of course, I love Fye, too. It's just that there are many blond bishounen in the sea nowadays, and not so many pissed-off ninjas at all for some reason. But the two simply can't do without each other, which is why I would never in my right mind write a fic with Kurogane alone! ^-^

_Chapter 2: SURPRISE, SURPRISE_

_ Also known as_

_"Where would we be without Sorata?"_

_Part 1_

Ring, ring.

"Damn phone…I can't believe I have to bother with that this early in the morning!"

It was still early that day when I carted Fye into the grand foyer, where he blinked his glowing blue eyes, astounded at all he saw. Soon after, I found myself emptying the contents of the bag into the swimming pool, located in a huge room opposite my sleeping quarters. I already knew for certain that it was going to be a pain in the ass to see his face the first thing every morning…it was as though I was setting myself up for simultaneous nightmares. 

But it was required. I couldn't risk him escaping again. Every morning, I had to make sure he was still safely inside the huge oval-shaped swimming pool, splashing around or amusing himself or whatever it was that uncivilized and yet very talkative mermen did. 

Um. 

Worrying too much… 

Ring, ring. 

"Damn it, I'll be there in a second!" I shouted in the direction of my room, where my cell phone lay expectantly underneath piles of unwashed laundry, art supplies, and heaps of dog-eared magazines. I knew I wouldn't be able to find it right away, and I could only hope that the caller knew this about me, too, so as to call back a second time. Damn it, what am I saying? If they didn't know me, it wouldn't have been important anyhow!

"Whom are you talking to?" The specimen teased, amused, as he clung to the edge of the plastic bag, watching the salty seawater trickling out in little streams underneath his belly. 

I gave him a kick as he and the remaining water in the plastic bag tumbled out in one huge splash…and immediately regretted it. Now my clothes were sopping wet. Crap.

"The things I have to put up with…" I grumbled angrily, as I wrung out my sweater. Having wet pants was bad enough, but the water seeps into cottony fabric immediately, and gives you an uncomfortable cold - 

Ring, ring.

From within the pool, the specimen submerged himself entirely in water, swimming around in circles and stirring up the placid water. Like all of the fish specimens that we receive, Fye looked quite at home in the pool, gliding through the chlorinated blue, elegant as any natural sea creature. With his shimmering dorsal fins, he navigated this way and that, touching the smooth floor with his nose with childish playfulness. His eyes shone with renewed vitality as he emerged from the depths, his blond hair dripping with pearly droplets, his pale face reflecting the undulating ripples. He giggled.

"Ah! The pool…it's just the right temperature, too!" The previous kick didn't appear to have done anything to disturb his chipper demeanor. I wondered if anything would've dislodged that smile…? "Thank you!" 

For a moment, and to my surprise, my mind didn't register what he'd said. I was studying him quietly, so absorbed in just looking at him that I didn't comprehend his words. 

Ring, ring.

There's something odd about this guy. 

Hell, I know that already. 

But what is it? Well, okay…I'm looking at him…and he's giving me that stupid smile again - what the hell is wrong with his head? Is he really as thickheaded as I think he is? That smile is going to drive me insane…

Damn it, I've got to find something to like about this asshole; if I keep acting so damn irritated, I'll never last two whole days. Really look at him, Kurogane. Find something to like. Focus on that thing whenever you're around him, and gradually, your opinions will change. Little by little, you will make yourself tolerate this idiot. Would you just – Where the hell do you think you're looking? Where, where? Get them back on task, you bastard – look at him! 

I grimaced, disgusted at my lack of resolve, and concentrated on the wet creature in front of me, with his disheveled locks and his gentle eyes reflecting the sunshine… 

…He does have nice eyes. 

Ring, ring. 

"The phone!" I realized, shocked. "SHIT!"

-

Dashing across the hall and nearly splattering myself against the wall, it took me at least three more minutes to unearth the lousy piece of machinery from underneath two outdated phone books and my rancid old socks. You can imagine how shocked I was that by the time I finally retrieved the thing, it still continued to ring. Obviously, someone had more than the standard amount of patience.

"Hello. Who's speaking?"

But I really should've known immediately. 

In the background, there was the familiar din of two little girls clamoring about with what sounded like kitchen utensils, laughing and presumably leaving dinner plates clattering in their wake. Their father – one Sorata, if my ears recognized any voice – was chuckling with them, as he labored away at the stove; the bastard was too good-natured to chide his beloved daughters. And on the phone with me was (by process of elimination)…

"Good morning, Kurogane. I'm sorry to disturb you so early during the day. I hope I didn't wake you." 

It was Arashi, lovely dependable Arashi…easily the sanest person in the family. No wonder she waited five minutes for my answer. She was a businesswoman; she was supposed to be tactful, lenient. She could wait for hours with that steely glare for an answer if she wanted to. 

"Morning, Arashi." I would've loved to curse at that point. But one did not curse in front of Arashi. If I'd done that, I would've been able to imagine her critical gaze bearing down on me, and that was just too frightening for words. Besides, she wasn't like her husband. She wasn't an intrusive person by nature, and usually only spoke to me out of necessity. "No, it's fine. I was woken up early in the morning, anyway, so I'm just really tired right now with no intention of sleeping. What's going on with you guys in the mainland?" Notice that I would never be bothered to ask Sorata this. "I haven't heard from Sorata since – " 

There was a sharp clatter, and I hissed as silverware rang across the telephone line in shrill static. "Ack!"

"Daddy! Make Akiko stop that!" Little Kasumi wailed in the background.

"B-But…" Akiko stuttered defensively.

"Both of you'd better calm down, or else there's no breakfast for you!" Sorata reprimanded the two tots, but there was laughter in his voice. The pots hissed in the background. "Put down the utensils and sit yourselves down; my cooking's not as good as your mother's, but I don't expect you two to fool around like monkeys while you're eating, understood?" His tone was decidedly casual, if not a touch more dramatic for the sake of his little girls.

He was an insanely good father, I thought to myself; never once did he have to force himself to remember how lucky he was to have his two children by his side. Granted, he ran the risk of spoiling them, but I think his children love him just as much. 

"We're all going out to fish today. That's why our breakfast is so early," Arashi explained, in an apologetic tone. "I'm sorry they're so loud. But Sorata loves to get them riled up before a trip."

"Understandable," I nodded, though she wasn't likely to see that. "Those are cute kids you've got there, Arashi."

"They are," Arashi admitted, affectionately. And they really were. Both took after her surprisingly well. Kasumi adopted her long flowing hair, and Akiko, while stuck with the shaggy bird's nest that was on her father's head, had inherited her mother's dark, serene eyes. They were both gorgeous kids, even if they weren't enough to make me wish I were a father. 

"Little Akiko's just entered elementary school this year. It'll be a while longer for our Kasumi. But they're both doing very well; they study so hard, and they always listen to whatever Sorata tells them. If I were a more domineering mother, I would be jealous of all the attention they're giving him." She chuckled. "But I know that even my little daughters will become women someday, too, so I'm not worried that they'll turn to me eventually for guidance. And yet they'll never love anyone the way they love Sorata, no matter how old they grow."

"They really do grow up quickly."

There was a slight pause. Arashi seemed to be contemplating something (deeply, that is, since she's always contemplating anyhow). I could hear, with some effort, the scraping of the chairs as the children bounded to the table, eating loudly. Then… 

"Has she arrived yet?"

I blinked. "Who?"

"Oh…so she is not there yet. I see." Arashi's voice was pensive. "Well, it's possible that the ferry was quite late…"

"Eh?"

"…And that it became lost. There was a bit of fog around the mainland two nights before; I don't know if there was on Heliotrope Isle. But she boarded one of them two nights ago, heading for your island, so by now, if she's not there…"

"Hold on a bit," I interrupted, utterly lost. "What are we talking about, here?"

From a distance, Sorata gave a shout. "Hey! Arashi, are you calling Kurogane? Did you tell him about the surprise?"

"…" I could almost hear her ignoring him. Good girl. 

But what surprise…? 

Running over to the receiver, Sorata reached over and took the phone away from his embarrassed wife. Immediately, I heard his loud, obnoxiously cheerful voice again. Oh, joy on heaven and earth…hardly three days away from the master of Shakespearian prose and now I have to suffer through this over long-distance (I got the feeling that I was paying for this one, no less). 

"Hey! Kurogane! Do you miss me yet?"

I grunted. "There's no right way of answering that without tainting the children's virgin ears, Sorata, and you know it. What the hell are you and Arashi planning? She mentioned something about someone coming over to Heliotrope…"

"Ack!" Sorata gave a yelp of pain, as though he'd been stabbed. When he next spoke, he sounded somewhat deflated. "Oh…so she told you already, did she? I was kind of hoping it'd be a surprise…" He sighed. "Well, I suppose it'd have to do. In any case, I'd better not tell you any more."

"Who is it, Sorata…?" I growled. "I've got a merman here that needs watching over, and I'm not in the best of moods. So you either give me the damn answer now, or I'll – "

"Oh? So the merman's already there, huh? Poor guy…" He tsked disapprovingly. "Well, at least it's better than labor work on the rickety Pufferfish at this time of year!" 

…What. The. Hell? 

"How the devil did you hear about my assignment?" I yelled across the line, causing more static to erupt. Frankly, I couldn't have cared less. "You and that bastard Gingetsu are plotting my untimely demise, aren't you?"

Sorata laughed, wincing from the crackles of electricity. "No, but he was the one who told me."

"How the hell did he tell you? I didn't agree to the shitty assignment until last night! Less than NINE HOURS AGO!!"

"You shouldn't be surprised. You've known him longer than I have. He has some kind of instinct, doesn't he?"

"Bullshit! In case you haven't noticed, I don't give a crap!"

"No? You sound a bit intimidated, Kurogane."

What? INTIMIDATED MY A – calm. Peace. Pretty flowers. 

I took a deep breath…a deep, long breath, and loosened my clutch on the compressed cell phone, which was on the verge of dying in a shower of sparks. My face was completely red, and I knew it. Sagging my shoulders and closing my eyes for a brief five seconds, I returned to the phone with a touch more sanity. 

"Whoever you're sending over to me, she had better not be a pain in the ass like this specimen."

"Oh, no, she isn't. Believe me. You know her."

"That's not saying much."

"Okay…rephrasing. I sent her there specifically because she can cook and clean and take care of the house, which is more than you could manage on a good day. I know, I know; you were probably planning to eat raw food and ramen the entire two days, and goodness knows you can probably stomach it with your wolf genes, but I wouldn't want you to disgust your guest! Plus, I had this girl deliver something to you, which even you can't hate."

"I'm sure."

"Sarcasm isn't healthy in large doses, Kurogane. Now, she'll probably be arriving today at the latest, so keep an eye out."

"Can I get a hint here?"

"Well…" I could hear him scratching his chin, caught in indecision. Sorata loved surprises. It wouldn't have been too bad a guess to say that he wanted very much to try and surprise me, something he'd managed very few times before. Of course, he loves to shock stoic people…I can't count how many times his antics have failed on his own wife, but whatever floats his boat.

"Um…well, it couldn't hurt the surprise too much," he decided finally. "All I'll say is that she's got long blue hair."

"Long…blue…? " I considered this for a moment. How many women did he know had long blue hair? There was one: Kendappa, a girl who used to come by Sorata's house and take care of his kids whenever the adults were occupied with work. But I only ever saw her a few times, and from the little that I knew about her, Kendappa's cooking and cleaning skills were…questionable. Hm. 

Then there was Yuzuki, a friend of mine who lived on the mainland as a writer. She definitely has long blue hair, a wavy river that ran down the length of her back as a braid. She took the same courses in art school that I'd done, before I decided to bail on their prescribed techniques and work on my own projects using my self-taught know-how. She was a nice girl, but we hadn't talked ever since I left for the island. Besides, I don't recall her ever having met Sorata…so that was unlikely. Huh. 

"Now, you're sure I know this girl, right?" I asked dubiously.

"Like a family member."

"Don't talk about my damn family." 

I was weary, but I continued to think it through. If the girl was to arrive at my doorstep sometime within the next twenty-four hours, it would've been better to be prepared rather than to deal with a shocker and a nuisance at the same time. But I didn't know that many girls, and it was bothersome trying to wrack my memory for one annoying blue-haired…

…Oh. 

Oh God. 

My mind instantly recalled the last female with long blue hair that I had ever met in my life, and then, seemingly satisfied with having completed its task, clicked off and went numb on me, leaving me paralyzed with shock and denial.

Oh God, no…not her. 

Even Sorata wouldn't possibly…

"Sorata," I said, in a petrified voice. "Do not tell me you've sent my niece over here to do my housework. If you sent Umi here, I'm going to swim over to your goddamned house from here and I'm going to throttle you like a dog."

Over the line, he sighed, somewhat disappointed. "Well, I was hoping you wouldn't have guessed it so quickly – "

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

I…guess it will be like this every segment! ^-^;; Reminds me of the Justice League animated series…! (In an ominous voice) To be CONTINUED! (Actually, on the show, it's silent, but saying it is quite fun, too. ^-^)


	6. Surprise, Surprise: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Author's Notes:_

Yay! Umi's going to make an appearance! ^-^

Rayearth was the first manga I'd ever bought. To this day, the first three books are sitting on my manga shelves, and despite the crappy Tokyopop translations, I love them to death (and Tokyopop does try…it really does). The art is vintage CLAMP, before they'd actually gone shounen-style on us (though, when you think about it, there'd always been a bit of shounen in their books, even magical girly Rayearth), and the series is stunning to look upon. The characters are standard issue CLAMP characters, with all the intrigue and the angst that one would expect…except that the main characters don't actually have any angst at all in the first series, which is a pleasant escape. And though one may argue their originalities, the ladies did give them the necessary quirks, particularly blonde Fuu-chan (Fuu: If we fell down from here, we'd black out in seconds. We wouldn't feel any pain before we die. ^-^;; I love that line to death…). 

And of course, who can forget the fact that Mokona was born when the Magic Knights came into existence? As the rotund little creature had since been made into a permanent fixture for the four ladies, one would imagine that the series still has remarkable significance to them. 

Now, it's difficult to mention Rayearth in a Tsubasa fic without mentioning the Rayearth – Tsubasa similarities and differences (at least for me). So I won't attempt to stop myself. I have to fill this space somehow! ^-^;; Aside from the Kudans, which were quite obvious ties to Rayearth, the trio of Tsubasa is very much like the trio in Rayearth, except that they are distinctively boyish (more action) and the girls are distinctively feminine (more chibi action). The humor is different, too, in direct relation to that observation. In fact, the shoujo and shounen factors contrast fiercely when you read the two books together. Take this for example: In Rayearth, book one (I'm going by Tokyopop's version, and no one can stop me!! Muahahaha! -;;;):

Umi: Hikaru! Be my little sister! (I'm paraphrasing, of course, so as not to offend anyone with different translations)

Hikaru: Okay! (Sparkles)

Umi: Fuu, be my other sister! 

Fuu: Of course! (Smile) 

Very infantile pact, but whatever floats their boat. Now, a few years later, in Tsubasa-RC, first volume:

Kurogane: I don't want to help you in your mission. Go find Sakura's damn feathers on your own.

Syaoran: Okay. (Serious)

Kurogane: Stop calling me nicknames. I hate you.

Fye: Okay, Kuro-pi. (Smile)

Yeah. They'll get along later. But the girls found their sense of group unity quicker than the boys because they're girls and it's not in our nature to be too hostile to other girls. ^-^

In the characters, you find similarities all over the place, however. Exhibit one: defending Mokona. 

Fuu: Mokona is wonderful! He helped us find where the Escudo was, and took this big winged ship out of the jewel on top of his cute little forehead. Logically, he should be thinking very hard. ^-^

Fye: Mokona is amazing. He translates, transports us to different worlds, and he can swallow an apple in one gulp!

Of course, if you go by this strand of logic, as Umi later admits that Mokona is useful, so should Kurogane. And as Umi later gets smooched by Mokona, so should Kuro – um. Okay, stopping. Exhibit two: clashing opinions about housework.

Umi: Work in Presea's house? If we're doing housework, then we can't save Cephiro!!

Fuu: But we can protect Presea's home.

Umi: Not the point!!

And in Tsubasa, volume three...

Kurogane: Why the hell do I need to fix someone's house?

Fye: Chungyang let us stay overnight. It's only natural.

Kurogane: (looks severely pissed off)

More on this intriguing study later! ^-^

_Chapter 2: SURPRISE, SURPRISE_

_ Also known as_

_"Where would we be without Sorata?"_

_Part 2_

"Where are you going?" asked Fye with gentle curiosity, as I went down to the swimming pool again to dispose of the plastic bag. A backpack was slung over my shoulders, and I had donned different clothing. I wore a scowl on my face, and my movements were erratic. Oh, yeah…and I wasn't exactly in the best mood, either.

"I'm going to swim over to Sorata's goddamned house from here, and I'm going to throttle him like a dog," I answered in a monotone, as I crumpled up the bag. 

"Throttling a person who had the good will to call you, and check on how you're doing? You're not serious," he shook his head. There was laughter evident in his voice. 

"You bet your ass I'm serious. There's no ferry that docks at Heliotrope Isle, so I'm going to have to swim over to Tudor Isle to get on a damn ferry to the mainland, and from there I'll travel for two days to his house, and by then he'll be done with fishing and carousing and whatever the hell he's planning on doing in the next two days," I spat, the words tumbling out of me with no sense of logic or practicality. I was much too caught up in the moment to care; my body was certainly not guided by my brain, because I was pacing now, pacing and ranting, around and around for no particular reason. 

"Slow down! You're not making any sense…although it is fun to watch you," Fye commented, amused. 

"Slow down? Slow down? What the hell is that supposed to – Umi is coming HERE! Of all the goddamned people in the goddamned free world, Sorata had to annoy the hell out of me with my niece…! There's no other alternative; I'll leave, vent my anger out on Sorata, and leave you here to die. That's what I'll do."

The merman raised a slim eyebrow, smirking. 

Damn him for not taking me seriously! But I'm not even taking myself seriously…this is all just me, hyperventilating and saying things that make positively no difference to my condition whatsoever. Holy crap, I'm pathetic. But, but… 

"So, if I understand you correctly, you're going to leave me here to starve just so you can swim over to Tudor Isle, spend money on a ferry boat, vent your folly out on Sorata, who can do nothing about the fact that your niece is here, and afterwards you're going to lose your salary and any chance of moving off of Heliotrope because of a minute temper problem?" He suggested, all while looking fairly innocent.

"…"

Shocking, how much he knew. 

I slowed down momentarily, glaring into those eyes that I professed were likeable. And I focused. Damn, but I focused with every last nerve that I had that wasn't full to bursting. And I calmed down, took a few deep breaths, and admitted that I could be patient with him. All I had to do was look at those eyes, and stop panicking.

Look at the pretty eyes, Kurogane. Just…stop panicking. 

They really are very nice eyes, though. 

Breathe… 

"…You know you're right. It wouldn't help to leave," I managed quietly after a while, almost as though I was sedated. Placing my bag on the floor, I decided to sit down at the edge of the pool, facing the smiling creature that had brought me calm and peace of mind, even for a minute. I still hated him, though. 

"Still, it sure would make me feel a lot better, to punch Sorata's lights out. Sometimes, gut instinct is the only thing you can follow."

"You're really very angry." 

"I am." I nodded. "But you don't know Ryuuzaki Umi."

"Would you like to tell me about her?" He asked. 

After knowing him for only an hour or so, I'd come to the realization that whenever Fye asked a question, he never made it sound like he was prodding into one's personal life. He honestly sounded as though he wanted to know. He reminded me of those psychiatrists I used to have, and that annoyed me, but still…he came off as slightly more genuine. But then again, he'd supposedly been living out on the deserted islands all this time; no wonder he would've wanted to talk.

He's alone, too. He's cunning, and frustrating to deal with, but he's as alone as I am. 

But at least he's trying to talk. 

On the other hand, I'm pushing him away. I'm pushing everyone away. Come to think of it, that's what I'd been doing ever since the incident with Hinoto…maybe even before that. If I look back on it…God, I'd realize that's all that I seemed to do. 

Just pushing people away and bitching about how alone I am. 

I must be the dumbest dog alive. 

Was I scared, or something? Why did I push everyone away, anyhow? I didn't quite understand it, either. But somehow, I knew that Fye's intentions weren't evil. He gave the Pufferfish crew a scare…that much was certain. But what was the purpose of that, except some harmless frolicking? He never meant to escape. That was why he lingered on the shoreline, waiting for me to spot him. 

Maybe I did take it a bit too seriously. 

He was waiting on the beach, and like a dumb animal, maybe he just wanted to see the reaction on my face when I'd finally found him. Well, hell, if that were true, then I might as well go as far as to say that he tried to cheer us up this morning. Tried to cheer me up. 

He wants me to smile back. I know he does. Look at those puppy dog eyes. Of course he does. 

"I…" I began tentatively, to his surprise and my own…but I didn't know how to continue. I knew for certain that I wanted to say something…no, that I had to say something…

But what, Kurogane? What? You big oaf. Look at yourself. You're a mess. No, not even. You're a heap of artificially flavored gelatin, that's what you are. The cheap, watery kind. Makes me sick to think about it. 

Think, think! What the heck am I trying so hard to say? 

Time passed, but not another word came to my lips. I was frozen to the spot, utterly brain dead, just staring into his huge eyes, eyes that reflected the amber-colored heaven that we should all be so lucky to visit one day, if only to spit on its grounds. His pupils were round vacuums of empty space and depth behind them. They were absorbing the articulation out of me. 

Thankfully, Fye was a merciful creature, and closed his eyes, smiling. Without me having to say a word, he seemed to have understood everything that needed to be said. He was wonderfully perceptive, as I would later learn the full extent of. 

"You know," he began in a soft voice, his enunciation every bit as subtle as the touch of a butterfly's wing, "the first time I saw you, you were a forlorn personage whom I didn't know at all." He laughed benignly. "Well, actually, it wasn't you…just silly Hideki showing me a picture of you through the clear glass of the aquarium. It was an image of you mopping the decks with a scowl on your face, all the while trying to teach Suu the linear patterns of the chore. But even though I couldn't hear Hideki's voice through the bars of the watery cage, I could see him point at it with unbridled enthusiasm, and I could understand that I was about to meet you. I looked forward to it. You acted towards Suu with compassion, and that gave me some insight into what kind of person you were."

I nodded numbly in response. Listening to him speak was…odd. I'd never really listened to a specimen intently before. All they seemed to do was babble incoherent nonsense most of the time – baby talk, mostly – and some of the violent specimens…well, all they would do was kick and scream. But Fye embodied a grace that went beyond the average human. The way he held himself, the way he gazed at me when he spoke…he might've been a specimen of the Scavengers, but his company was above human companionship.

It was as addictive as listening to a siren's song. 

"You were also a handsome creature," he noted off-handedly, grinning.

"W-What?" I staggered, taken aback. Of all the people who would ever call me good-looking…a fish that I'd only known for an hour or so…? 

I'd never been handsome. Not even in childhood. All it ever was in elementary school was: "look at the big-boned freak!" and "he's too angular and hunched-over to play sports properly!". That wasn't pleasant. I can still remember the sting. Well, considering what I did about those kids, I wouldn't be surprised if they can still remember the stings from my punches. I wasn't even cute, with my huge teeth and my peevish expression. Never once did a girl profess to having liked me. 

And here a wild vagabond was complimenting me on my looks. Shocking. "You thought I was…?" 

"Yes, I did. I also thought it was a shame that you didn't smile in the photograph." His smile became sad. "Why not?"

"I'm sure it has something to do with the teeth that can make paid photographers run screaming for the hills," I grumbled, opening up my mouth. Sure enough, surrounding my palate, there were rows of shining white canine teeth, sharp as nails all the way round, and gnashed together. I sealed my lips almost immediately, feeling awkward over my natural ugliness.

"I think it'd be good for you to smile anyways," Fye urged me nonetheless. "It's better than what I saw you doing before."

"What was I doing before?" I asked, not comprehending.

"Standing on the boat, staring out at the sea. I saw you do that, from my boulder on the shoreline. It was the first time I ever saw you up close," he told me quietly. "You'd paced a while, then told Suu to leave the deck – I learned all the names of the crew members when I was first caught – with a dispirited look on your face. Then you stopped, silencing altogether, and you were motionless for a few moments, facing the sea."

Fye frowned. "It was then that I saw that you were actually moving…gently, gently, swaying slowly to the motion of the incoming tide. You were listening to the sea. It's true that I'm guilty of doing that myself. I'd listened to the sea for companionship when I was alone, more than a few times. But seeing you standing on the top deck of the Pufferfish Liner, swaying…I'd never seen anyone else do that before." 

He shivered, and gazed at me worriedly.

"I'd never seen anyone act so utterly alone."

It was then that the doorbell chose to ring.

-

I answered it. As fate would have it, it was none other than Ryuuzaki Umi, my prissy niece with a trap that refused to be shut. She was a healthy-looking girl, tall with a fair complexion. And she was genuinely pretty, I'd admit. Hell, one has to admit it when random people on the street follow her all the way home and accuse her of being a supermodel (and then they'd see me, with my face like a donkey's ass, and they'd make their faces, and I'd kick their asses…yep). 

That's what it was like when I lived back home, and even now, it's still this way. She's still recognized as an all-around overachiever, someone my family could fall back on since I'd fallen to the dark side: the contemporary arts. Nope, never did like her much. Bitch. 

"Uncle Kurogane!" she bellowed in my ear at full blast, the moment I opened the door. "Now that someone had finally had the good sense to tell me where you'd gone, I want to have a few words with you!"

"Hello to you, too," I greeted with a grimace. "And what the hell might you want today?"

"Don't give me that. Your mom's been worried sick about you, and so has mine. What had happened to you over the last week?" Without receiving any sort of welcome, she stomped inside with her bundles and her luggage, her eyes accusingly glaring at me. She would've probably pointed, had she not had a heavy-looking bundle occupying the safety of her arms. "After moving to a deserted island that's become uninhabitable – and don't deny it, because we saw it on the news, and we know it had something to do with you – you don't tell us at all about your house falling apart, and instead go into hiding on Heliotrope Isle. Would you swallow your pride and say something?"

The young and the demanding. They give you crap without knowing crap, and don't even bother to apologize when they grow up. Damn kids… 

If Fye had been able to see her, he would've definitely recommended a smile. 

I couldn't stop myself. Out of nowhere, I started talking.

"I'll have you know, Umi, that a woman died on that uninhabitable island…or didn't they mention it on the news?" I took a step towards her, and her lip quivered, slightly less firm than before. "Hinoto died, Umi. Have you ever had a person die because of you?

"I didn't think so. It's something that I'm going to regret for the rest of my life. I think…" I whispered menacingly, "…that I know that it's my fault already. A lot of things are. But I'm trying hard, Umi, and you can't persecute me for trying. Don't you think that after years of drilling it into my head, I would know that my family doesn't like some of the decisions I made? I know this, Umi. The more you say it, the less I care. There are important things in the world, and I realized that when I tried to be happy with the path that I'd taken. I'd forsaken one of them, and her name is Hinoto. I never quite knew how much she suffered until I'd finally killed her.

"So keep in mind, Umi, that Sorata sent you here because he wanted you to help me recover, to get on with the life I have. Not to ruin what I've built for myself, and certainly not to reprimand me for not writing to you all about Hinoto. Do you think that you would've understood in the least, if I had written to you? Do you?"

There was a period of silence.

Umi looked stunned. A bit scared even. She hadn't heard my voice in months, at the least. Small wonder. 

I regretted approaching her that way almost immediately. I don't really understand where my burst of sudden speech had come from, either. In a way, it almost felt as though I was taking out on her the frustration of not being able to speak properly to Fye. That was a cheap tactic, venting out one's frustrations on a girl, and not letting her talk back. 

I wonder if she can see how cowardly I really am. Why did I do that…? 

Finally, she attempted to speak, her voice meek and unsure. "…Uncle, I'm not trying to – " 

Closing her mouth, Umi decided to exercise a different tone of voice. "I don't hate you, Uncle. I…hope you know that," she said hesitantly, swallowing. "If I came off as being conceited or arrogant, I want to apologize. I really…I don't hate you. I just think that you deserve to be happier…" she paused, "…considering how much you'd struggled. 

" 'Why couldn't you have taken the easier path? Why not just settle for a job that would pay for the food and rent?' I always ask myself these things. 'Why wouldn't you do something easy?' I knew you were capable…more than capable. When I was little, I used to think that you could do anything. And now, when I look at what you've become, I'm not ashamed, but I am…sad. Just sad, I suppose, that the world didn't get to see your potential."

She gritted her teeth. "Granted, I am still angry at you."

I grinned despite myself. My teenage niece had fox genes, the cunning girl. That makes us two snarling dogs that wouldn't give in. It was satisfying to see that her temperament wasn't easily swayed.

"But I did see the news report, about Hinoto and all. I know you and Sorata were taking care of her, and you must've cared for her. Even you must've." Her fierce eyes dulled somewhat, and she shook her head angrily. "I know you're a determined person in everything that you do. But you had to suffer seeing her die…"

"She had to suffer dying," I pointed out quietly.

"…I'm sorry you had to deal with this, Uncle Kurogane. It isn't your specialty…tragedies."

"I know."

"That's partly why I agreed to take Sorata up on his offer, to bring you this."   

To my surprise, she held out the bundle she had in her arms towards me, cradling it in her arms as she would a baby. It was covered with cloth, and looked to be some sort of plant, with long leaves at its top – a pale yellow color, strangely enough, like the color of the leaves on a dying tree - and a pot at its root, within the blanket's envelope. Peeking out of the soft fabric were two whorls…like funny little eyes, side by side. 

"This was discovered at the site of the island," she explained, upon seeing my inquiring look. She was smiling again, and it suited her well, but there was a secret behind her shining eyes. "The medical staff at the hospital found it within Hinoto's withered body, inside her womb, after they'd cut it open. It was protected by Hinoto's dried-up organs, which still remained barely functioning. Lying inside her, it was protected from most of the fire and electric shock. 

"They were planning to use all that remained of Hinoto's body as a part of a medical report on her transformation after the Rebirth, but when Sorata heard about it, he ran a lot of favors to obtain this particular part of her, and Arashi had to pay a lot of money for it, too." She winked. "You're lucky to have such good friends on the mainland."

I stared at the peculiar thing that now lay in my clumsy grasp. It didn't appear to be an organ…it looked almost like another plant, another willow tree altogether. 

How could it have been inside…? 

It was then that I understood.

"…You're saying it came from the womb." I whispered, barely audibly. "Are you suggesting that this thing is…?"

"Yes…according to Sorata, it is definitely Hinoto's child…! A little boy tree…can you believe it?" Umi looked jubilant at having witnessed this moment. "It was born like a child, but in the shape of a tree! According to the medical research, they said that had Hinoto been waiting any longer, she would've split open in a mass of dried wood and produced this child anyway!"

I stared at the child. Then, in an odd moment of inspiration, I held its frail body up close to my ear. And faintly, ever so faintly, I could hear the beating of a small heart. At long intervals, but surely ringing loud and clear…one, two…

"God bless Sorata's crazy soul," I murmured. Without realizing it, I had, to Umi's surprise, been crying; a single tear ran down my cheek, as I held the tiny infant to my heart, and squeezed it, never wishing to let go.

A little boy. 

A living creature…born from our Hinoto. 

Sorata, you believe in me, don't you? You believe despite all the odds that I would take care of this child properly, the way I was never able to do for Hinoto. You did understand…

I'll save this life. I'll let her memory live on. This child will live a more fortunate life than Hinoto was ever able to. 

You're some kind of crazy bastard, Sorata…trusting a guy like me. 

"Damn it, Sorata…" I shook my head vehemently, my tears flowing freely, "…You are some sort of madman. But I will take care of him. I will…with all my heart, I swear to God, I will…!"

Whatever shall I name this little tree baby, hm? Hm? Well, obviously, I'm going to name him after another Dreamgazer. It doesn't matter if the person I name him after isn't actually Hinoto's son. This entire fic is coming from someone who wrote Kurogane as Umi's uncle! So I'm going to name the little blond-leaved tree after whomever I wish. 

And who has blond hair? Who? Who? -;; 

There's going to be a little comatose tree planted in Gingetsu's garden…! ^-^;;


	7. Great Secrets Aren't Shared: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

Rayearth and Tsubasa, Tsubasa and Rayearth…while they are two different series, CLAMP does maintain many of the good old traditions in their new works, which makes the two startlingly similar. Three main-characters, a slew of side characters, and one all-purpose Mokona…I could count similarities until I drop. It's just too easy. ^-^

Take a look at their heights. In Rayearth, Umi is easily the highest of the three, with Fuu trailing behind slightly, and our cute little Hikaru resorting to jumping ridiculously high distances in order to be noticed. Even their mashins correspond with this. Celes and Windom are around the same height - Celes being slightly taller - and Rayearth is particularly small in comparison, about the size of a lion. 

In Tsubasa, it's the same sort of thing. Kurogane is unbelievably tall, Fye is just slightly shorter, and Syaoran is about half their size…the size of a normal human being, by God. Of course, CLAMP somehow manages to make it work. (Suppose Syaoran is about five feet and a half…that would make Kurogane HOW tall? ^-^;;)

Their personalities match somewhat, as well. Syaoran is startlingly serious for his age, and so is Hikaru. They both have certain people whom they care about with all their hearts, and would do anything to protect. 

Syaoran: Sakura is my most important person. Even if she forgets about me, I will definitely save her!

Hikaru: I won't let anyone hurt Umi! Umi and Fuu are my best friends, and we'll all live to save Cephiro together!

Do I think that Hikaru and Umi were more than friends? Possibly. ^-^ It's all relatively harmless, anyway. Speaking of Umi, of course, this elegant girl pretty much falls apart whenever Mokona appears. The little thing often takes a beating around her.

Umi: Where do you disappear to when we fight? You little sadist! You leave us alone to fend off imminent danger every time!

Mokona: (SMOOCH)

Umi: (Blushes like a tomato) MOKONA!! Oh, you're so going to die this time…!

While Kurogane, who is also quite elegant in battle, has a bone to pick with the little tyke also.

Kurogane: You little manjuu! You ate my okonomiyaki!

Mokona: Ack! I only ate it because mine was too hot!! You meanie!

Kurogane: (squishes him)

And Fye and Fuu…ah, Fye and Fuu. Where do I even start with these two? ^-^;; How about their stating the obvious?

Hikaru: We certainly aren't in Tokyo anymore. I don't know where we are exactly, but when we were falling through the sky, I saw a huge ocean, a floating mountain, and a volcano…

Fuu: Guess there aren't any floating mountains in Tokyo, huh?

I could just go on and on and on. (Fuu: …It's a line! ^-^;;) In Tsubasa, there were just as many incidences. 

Primera: Why won't you just get hit already?

Fye: Because it looks like it'd hurt. ^-^

I've milked a sizable list out of the two series already, so I'll stop there. Who knows? I may pick this up again when T-RC is done. ^-^

Chapter 3: GREAT SECRETS AREN'T SHARED 

_ Also known as_

_"If Mona Lisa were a merman…"_

_Part 1_

"He's a pretty thing," remarked Fye with intrigue as I sat Hinoto's offspring down within the large room, allowing him to see the baby clearly. I set the pot especially close to the windows, so that the amplified sunlight would quench the baby tree's thirst. When this child grew high enough, I knew I'd have to replant him in the garden…for now, putting him where I could see him the moment I awoke was still acceptable. "His yellow leaves…they're so strange. He almost looks as though he had begun dying the moment he was born." 

I nodded. It was true. Hinoto had grown into a beautiful tree, and I had no doubt that this little one would also. But Fye was right about another thing, too. His yellow leaves disturbed me.

Dying, living…how the hell would I know any of this if he were always this sickly color? 

Guess I'll have to trust my instincts. He might look even sicklier if he was actually dying. Meanwhile, this color…

It's not unpleasant. I've seen people with pale hair like this.   

Before returning to Fye's side, I had shown Umi to her room, allowed the tired girl to set down her bags. Despite her reluctance to rest, she was a growing girl still, and I knew that her arrogance would give way to drowsiness eventually. So I shut the door, and left her to her ranting. She was excited to be living in such a huge mansion, and wanted to liven things up immediately; she went on and on about baking cakes for the merman and cleaning up my mess ("because my intuition tells me there's a pile of unorganized art supplies in your room somewhere", she grinned), and generally livening things up on Gingetsu's island.

Naïveté. 

News flash. No one can liven things up on Gingetsu's island, because this entire goddamned island was perpetually asleep, and I knew she'd be asleep as well in no time flat. 

As I descended the stairs in order to change into regular clothes again, I could hear her from her room, trying to fight the urge to procrastinate with her unpacking rather loudly. A few moments later, I went to check on her.

Well, was there any doubt that I would've been right? Regardless of our issues, Umi was my niece, as close to me as anyone had ever been; I grew up with her, and to hell with it if I didn't know her habits by now. She was upstairs now – sound asleep and hardly changed out of her traveling clothes. Typical. 

So instead of disrupting her beauty rest, I instead sought company with Fye, who'd heard my speech with Umi echoed down to his halls, and was eager to know what was going on. 

"They say that, because of Hinoto's gradually dehydrating organs, this baby was really about to die within her. According to Umi's information, though, the yellow in the leaves aren't because of that. Sorata had given him water and food, but he still remained that color. I guess it must be because of genetics," I shrugged. Reaching out my hand, I stroked one of the long hairs lovingly upon the golden layers. It was as soft to the touch as down, and delicate. 

"From the photos that I'd seen during my research on Hinoto, a long time ago, she was a lovely woman. I think this child would've grown up into a pretty child, if certain circumstances had been otherwise."

He nodded, acknowledging this. It was always a shame when full potential couldn't be reached.

"He's still quite beautiful, though. Please don't be upset."

"I'm not." I was.

A pause. I suppose that Fye perceived that he should've changed the subject matter slightly, but sadly, he didn't manage to change it to any better a subject.

 "So, who is this Hinoto?"

I grew annoyed. "What, you couldn't tell that she was his mother just by me saying it?"

"No…what was she to you?"

I paused, letting go of the baby willow tree. There was a tinge of sadness that I bit back, suppressed with terrible pain. There was that same brutal compression on my heart again, that uncomfortable feeling. I had no idea what to say. Shit, how could I be expected to say what I meant honestly?

Instead, I went with this response.

"…A houseguest. I wished to God she could've been a friend, but it's too late to pity myself for that now. She lived a hellish life, suffering through the Rebirth at close proximity to the power plant, and having to change extremely rapidly within the course of a few months without any sort of anesthetics to block the pain. She was actually working on the Clover Project for genetic mutation, and arrested. If she was ever happy before a friend and me started taking care of her, I wouldn't know. I wish she'd been. All to make me feel better about the fact that I killed her," I added morosely.

For a moment, the smile disappeared. Fye looked stunned, and genuinely frightened. 

"You…killed…?"

Looking at him, I lost my nerve instantly.

Why did I…? 

I was easily as frightened as he was. 

Why, indeed? I'd barely known him, but I was so concerned with what he thought of me that my heart skipped a beat. My breath caught in my throat. My mind was more verbal than I was, however. It was screaming at me over and over how naïve I was, to think that Fye's smile would remain unfazed forever. Even in death. 

You bastard. You Godforsaken bastard. Why the hell can't you think logically when you're around another person, Kurogane? Have you been so alone that you've forgotten that no one ever wants to hear about bloody murder, especially when it's your goddamned fault? 

If I make him cry…if I…   

But then…

"You couldn't have killed her on purpose," He shook his head. By some obscure miracle, his smile returned, as lively and as confident as it ever had been. "It's not like you. You wouldn't do that."

I was shocked. I tried to regain my composure, with minimal success. 

"Oh yeah? And how would you know?" I turned to him, challenging him to answer this in an unsteady voice that sounded nothing like myself. "You don't know anything about me! We've only known each other for less than a day! One morning!"

"But I've seen you get angry in this morning," Fye reasoned persuasively, so persuasively that I couldn't help but listen to him. He was able to win my attention over because of his integrity. There was no doubt in my mind that he would lie to me. He hardly seemed capable of it. "I've seen you become sad. These feelings of yours…they reflect your true self, underneath that gruffness. Everyone hides underneath a veil, but when they aren't able to coherently think, and eradicate their strongest feelings with logic…and that's when their true natures are revealed.

"And from the looks of it, you don't seem to have a lot of logic," he smiled teasingly. "So those feelings that you displayed this morning…aren't those feelings true? Please don't lie."

"I…" I attempted to deny this. Damn it, but I tried hard to say something against it. 

But it was true. He'd heard me cry, seen me rock myself into oblivion on the Pufferfish's deck, had gotten me genuinely pissed off. If that wasn't true, then I don't know what the hell I'm feeling so uncomfortable about. 

I'd be a fool to say he doesn't have the upper hand. 

I heaved a sigh. I give up. "You're right. Those feelings…they are true. And I wished to God they weren't, so that I wouldn't seem so vulnerable."

"You mustn't say that. Your feelings are your most reliable attributes. If you have many feelings, you may be troubled, but it is also a mark of other people's ability to trust you. If you wear your heart on your sleeve, people know they can always rely on you to be genuine."

"I found no reason to lie to you this morning."

"Then, since the feelings I'd seen you display are true, then I already know what is in your heart. The amount of time I've known you for is completely inconsequential." Fye's expression was triumphant, and he clasped his hands together. "It's a lovely thing, being able to know someone's heart."

"So the time that you and I have spent together doesn't matter. You don't believe in the effects of time?" I questioned softly, gazing at him with silent interest.

"I believe in the effects of time. But time can unite people as well as distance them. There are people in this world who have known each other their entire lives, and never once seen each other's true feelings before. I do believe that time makes that worse," he replied, with a wistful glimmer in his eyes. "Time brings hope to those who can't seem to find their courage and their passion right away. Still, it doesn't guarantee anything."

Fye closed his eyes, serenely smiling. "This is why I'm glad that you're the way you are. You may despise yourself for what you've done. But at least you don't lie. I can see you and judge you clearly for the way you are, and I can say that you didn't wish to kill Hinoto, even though you took the responsibility for her death. The fact that she is gone doesn't change my opinion of you. I'm grateful to be with you. "

There was a moment of silence. 

I was utterly spellbound. As his words echoed about inside my head, I realize that I wanted to capture this moment forever.

The moment when I realized, with startling certainty, that Fye was the one who would end my loneliness.

He displays his emotions with no limitations, and so do I. He has no qualms about saying what he needs to say to me, and vice versa. He and I are similar creatures on the inside, although he's infinitely tamer. Ultimately, it is this that connects us: we're both just so fed up with insincerity that we never rely upon it anymore. How the heck did it come to this…? 

-

We were two honest people in a mad, mad world.

But at the time, I didn't realize it was only because we were alone in the world, and didn't care enough about anyone else to keep our feelings caged, to suppress our true natures to keep other people happy. We were both vagabonds. We were sincere, because we didn't have the rampant feelings of love to get our brains all muddled and shit. We weren't worried about offending anyone, or pleasing anyone…

Clearly, we didn't need to lie yet. We loved nobody enough to lie to them. 

I would find this out later. 

-

For the moment, I was astounded by the sudden connection that had occurred. I was struck with astonishment by the meaning behind those previously forlorn eyes. Fye and I, against all odds, had reached each other on a level that I hadn't bothered to worry about. He was alone, and so was I. But it wasn't until that point that I realized with awesome clarity that we didn't need to be. 

I didn't hate him. Lying in the pool, his blond locks dripping with water and his eyes shut, contemplating a world inside his mind…he looked innocent, an impeccable image of dreamy enchantment. Without knowing it, my own mind drifted back to the scene at the dock, where I'd stood upon the Pufferfish and swayed to the sea. Seeing him there was like that. But it wasn't loneliness being expressed, but content instead.

Shit, Kurogane! Even a biased artist could see that this scene was beautiful! A voice piped inside my head. 

That was true.

I wish I could remember this moment forever. Fye is an extraordinary specimen, and there is something powerful about what had just occurred. If I could render this moment in paint…

My eyes widened. 

Umi would stay asleep for at least an hour, and more likely two. I always finish my pictures in a rush. There's absolutely nothing else that needs to be done in this damn mansion of incredible boredom, so maybe, just maybe…

"Let me paint you," I blurted out suddenly.

Fye's eyes snapped open, and he stared at me oddly. For once, I had the rare joy of seeing him caught by surprise, but I had no time to rejoice at the moment. I was too busy planning out the preliminary plans for this piece of art on the imaginary canvas that was my shriveled brain. "What…?" 

"Let me paint you," I repeated, quicker and with more conviction this time. If I were any more prone to bursting out in fast-paced speech, I might just call myself hyper. Ugh. "The damn moment's going to fade from my mind at any moment, and I've got to put it on canvas before it floats away into the void! It won't take long, I swear." 

I paused. 

"Hell, why am I even waiting for your damn permission? Like it or not, you're going to help me."

A confused "…" was all that trailed behind me as I dashed across the hall to my room, to retrieve my paintbrushes.

No objections? Good. Last thing I need. 

-

"Incline your head…no, a bit to the left, you idiot. The way it was when I was finished talking to you."

The poor asshole couldn't believe me. He was still staring at me with his jaw slack as I towed my wooden prop in from the other room, my canvas tucked underneath an arm. All he could do was follow my instructions dumbly.

Probably thought I was a good-for-nothing shithead who couldn't do art if his life depended on it. 

"Good. Stay like that for a bit."

But it sure as hell took more than just "a bit" to assemble my collection of work tools. They were stashed in every conceivable corner of my room, and I had to scramble like mad to excavate them all. My paintbrushes…I still hadn't taken most of those out from my suitcases after I'd come to this damn island. The ones that I did use were scattered across the floor and gathering mildew. My portable color wheel had been in the doorway; I'd unconsciously used it as a doormat. I'd dried my paint palette recently with a t-shirt that I hadn't bothered to look at twice to make sure it wasn't a rag…those two had tumbled off the bed naughtily and rolled into the gloom underneath. While fishing them out, I bumped my head against a wooden post. 

Ow. 

That wasn't all the pain I had to put myself through, though. I'd decided to myself that this was going to be a particularly important picture. I was going to have to put some proverbial backbone into it. So I searched for my special paints. 

I kept all my quality oil paints (insanely expensive like you wouldn't believe…it makes no sense to me why most art supplies have to be so damn expensive when most artists are clearly broke) in a paper lunch bag underneath my socks, where I knew no one would look (not that such a reason justified it, since no one would want my paints anyhow); problem with that was, for what seemed like half an hour, I couldn't remember where they were, myself. 

When I'd finally retrieved everything I needed, I dashed across the hall…to see Fye, still in that cramped position that he'd been in when I'd left him. 

Instead of congratulating him on his endurance, I scowled irritably. "You have no common sense."

He gave me a look that clearly said he was completely lost.

"Never mind, never mind…" I scratched my head, and marched to the stand I'd set up, facing the windows. "Let's get this thing started."


	8. Great Secrets Aren't Shared: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Author's Notes:_

Because I'd ranted about Kurogane for a bit, I think now I feel like ranting more about Fye. ^-^ And don't worry…it won't sound forced. I genuinely like the guy! He isn't quite like any other bishounen that CLAMP has created, despite their impressive number of bishounen to date (including my dear Kuro-chan; _Reader:_ Oh, so he's yours now, is he? ^-^;;). 

I love his character design. All of the rubbery chibis that CLAMP had been making lately are very appealing to me. They represent the flexibility of a new generation of manga. ^-^ Fye is particularly flexible, considering his design, with those lanky limbs and that sleek costume. He's one very bendy guy. Considering how lenient and dodgy he is, I would've had it no other way. And he's so skillful in fighting, too! When he does his acrobatics in the air using his Kudan, he really does seem very elegant. It's like Syaoran said: he speaks, acts, and holds himself up in a way that shows he's an experienced combatant. If only I could stand with that much dignity. ^-^;; (Points to hump on back) Way too many hours of drawing and typing and Cubis… -;;;

So, what about Fye's personality? Well, I will say this. The hard-working ladies of CLAMP have pumped out plenty of blond bishounen for us to adore, with their great personalities. Hisui is particularly beautiful, and Kakyou is no less. Kohaku is rather silly, but he is very pretty also! Nokoru – a classic character - is adorable to us because of his antics and very blond mannerisms (Kaichou was particularly cute because he was just so very mischievous and gentlemanly at the same time!). Kazahaya-kun acts boyish but is so clumsy, and tries so very hard just to get by. ^-^;; I'm almost certain I'm missing some! -;; But there hasn't been anyone, blond or otherwise, who's been quite as easy-going and compassionate as Fye, with his wonderfully thick head. And he has a particular shade of blond that is so pleasing to look at!

Fye's smile is addictive. He's always smiling and it always suits him, even during heartbreaking moments where anyone else who'd dared to smile would've never gotten away with it. If I'm not mistaken, he's even smiling – albeit sadly – when Syaoran realized that Sakura didn't remember him anymore. But Fye-chan gets away with that, because he's so distanced from everything that is going on, and provides a ray of hope even in the darkest situations. I like that about him. When everyone else is horribly distraught, he always seems to remember that there's some good in the world…just not where they happened to be at the moment. ^-^;;; He knows that just because something causes one to lose sight of all that's good, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist; in fact, it probably exists right underneath your nose.

And let's face it…you need an optimistic person with Kurogane skulking about constantly, and poor Syaoran so serious! ^-^;; Kurogane's a tough guy, and Syaoran's a strong kid; both of them have good intentions, but whenever they're hurt, they just seem to bury the pain in their hearts and continue fighting on in agony. Fye can almost abolish all that sorrow that they feel. When they are upset, he seems to be the one who sets things right. ^-^ Without him, they'd be pretty glum.

And he's rather a clever fellow. Fye certainly has a way with questions! He asks them all the time, and the questions that he asks seem to clear up most dilemmas very effectively. Since he states the obvious very often, he's the one who asks easy questions and gets the basic information that the others need to start on their way. He's confident enough to ask about anything at all, and doesn't overlook a thing. This probably explains his apparent wisdom. (Wisdom = the most obvious things in life that seem to escape us everyday; Fye = very obvious; therefore, Fye = very wise! ^-^;; And on a related note, obvious = ridiculously funny, so Fye = ridiculously funny! ). 

Lastly, of course, everyone wants to know about Fye's past with Ashura-oh. It's pretty obvious that a pretty bishie with a mysterious past draws most of us otakus like moths to a flame. However, I myself prefer charm to mystery, and humor over angst, which is why Kurogane wormed his way into my heart quickly after I got past screaming over Fye-chan's looks! -;; Yes, I was addicted to Fyefye first. I want to know what happened in his past also! But given the connotations ("Sweet dreams, my king…!"), I think regardless of the real reason, we'll assume that a relationship existed between those two, and somehow poor Fye's heart got all broken and stuff. AAAAWW!!! -;;;;

So, no, I don't dislike Fye. I just happen to like Kurogane a lot. Really. ^-^ I love the fact that Fye acts so infantile but can be so clever at the same time (fangirls are falling over in the streets as we speak because of this). But he wouldn't be as great without Kuro-chan to tease! I hope you agree on this matter. The comedy spotlight of T-RC is constantly on these two…Syaoran and Sakura, meanwhile, are often found staring confusedly at their arguments with blank chipmunk expressions on their cute little faces. ^-^;;; 

I think I may do a small rant on every character! (_Reader: _Nooooo…) I'll prove that I haven't forgotten about how cool Syaoran-kun is…in the next segment!

_Chapter 3: GREAT SECRETS AREN'T SHARED_

_ Also known as_

_"If Mona Lisa were a merman…"_

_Part 2_

Halfway through the painting process, when I'd found myself comfortably seated with a brush in my calloused hands, Fye found his voice again.

"You…paint?"

I nodded distractedly, fingering the thin body of the paintbrush in my hand. I never sketch a rough outline before I paint…I'd never conformed to the art school discipline. Everything I did in my pictures was spontaneous, and I always felt uncomfortable whenever I had to follow a guideline, anyhow. It didn't make the pictures look any better.

But starting a painting was always tricky. I had to find a focal point.

"Wow…!" Fye sounded awed, and he was. "I can't believe – "

"The eyes."

"Huh?"

"Start with the eyes, then the nose, face, neck…never mind the hair…" I muttered to myself as I rapidly brushed a few thin black strokes, to mark the shape of the eyes. An extensive plan was slowly starting to make itself visible to me. I bit my lip, concentrating hard; all that existed was the canvas in front of me, almost blank, and damn it if I didn't do something about that…

I would outline the drops of water on his face with a pinkish tint…his hair would have to be slightly darker than it really is, in order for anyone to notice it…maybe I should deviate from the actual colors and make the picture redder…? It'd be like a sunset, and…sun would be in his eyes, and maybe a cloudy tint on his skin…in that case, I shouldn't make it reflect the water, because that might look sick…

"Kuro-chan?"  Fye ventured, bemused.  

"What?" I glanced up for a moment, to refresh my memory of his face. He's got really heavy-lidded eyes…I can't make him look lethargic. Less emphasis on the skin, and - 

…

I dropped my paintbrush in shock, nearly causing my picture to smudge. Oh, mortified wasn't even the word for it.  "What the hell did you just call me?"

He giggled insanely, splashing at the water with his long tail. I threw my color wheel at his head. 

"What the hell is wrong with you, you overly affectionate asshole? Kuro-chan? KURO-CHAN?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But I had to get your attention somehow!" He sputtered between his uncontrollable fits of sniggering, as he clutched at his sore head. Meanwhile, my nostrils were flaring, and my face had turned a ghastly hue. "I never thought you'd delve so deeply into your work…! All this talking to yourself…it was as if I wasn't even there! You seemed so in control, seemed to know exactly what you were going to do…"

"…Hardly," I scoffed, calming down somewhat at this ridiculous observation…although it was oddly flattering. 

Huffing indignantly, I sat down again on my stool, and reached out a hand to catch the color wheel that flew in my direction. Fye's cheeks were still a pink hue; apparently, he was still amused. "You just think this because I seemed so damned incompetent at everything else. And maybe I am. But you'd better think twice before you insult my art. I take it more seriously than daily life."

"So it seems. But you didn't go to art school."

"How can you tell?"

"No pencil, no preliminary sketch, and no clear planning," he pointed out gently. "You're a free soul."

"I am." By now, I had finished rounding off the corners of Fye's large eyes. Strangely enough, my brush seemed to flow along with his natural curves, as though they were accustomed to tracing those edges – which they weren't, for very few people had eyes that were like Fye's, large and fishlike. Very distinctive. I was clearly not going to have enough room to draw the tail, so the focus would be on his upper body, which meant I had to spend twice as much time as I would ordinarily on his eyes alone.

That wasn't problematic. His eyes were…pretty. Um.

"Did you always love painting…?"

"Not always…but I have done it for a long time. It's gratifying, for me." Without realizing it, I had begun relaying my personal story to this peculiar merman, whom I'd so quickly learned to trust. "It was recommended by one of my teachers. Collectively, my parents and my shrinks decided that I needed some sort of hobby, and that I was beating the crap out of kids in the schoolyard because I wasn't academically challenged enough, and felt that it was the only outlet. So they looked at my marks. They saw that I had a habit of drawing. So they bought me a few tools and shut me inside a room for an hour every day, anxious as hell to see the results each and every time.  

"At first, I refused to do anything. Just sat at the desk with a scowl and refused to touch the paints. Sometimes, I threatened to rip the door off its hinges. I'd made a lot of dents in it with my feet over the first month or so. Then, after a few unsuccessful sessions of this, out of boredom, I caved in. I tried it." 

I smirked at the recollection of my own naïve arrogance, as I went over Fye's eyes with specks of simmering light. Even now, I was still kind of like that.  

"I fell in love with the stuff. But I was a perfectionist. I wanted to get my paintings just right in one go, without having had any formal instruction, or even practice. Whenever I didn't do something right, I'd get so pissed off…! The room was a chaotic mess. I'd splatter paint all over the walls and punch holes in the canvases with my bare fists. Eventually, I decided that it wouldn't do. It didn't do shit for my ability, and my parents were about to take my supplies away.

"I wanted to get it right so badly that I began to study art on my own time, referencing classical masterpieces and contemporary fare, and doing a fair share of both. I experimented every day, and never committed vandalism after that. Slowly and surely, I began to get better, became more and more obsessed with the process. I developed my own style. My parents saw my progress, and wanted to send me to an art school, to see how far I could take my ability. But I always declined. I didn't know what the world would think of me. I would've rather believed that I had talent than to be shattered and pieced together again.

"All the same, my family saw this hobby of mine as a weakness. They exploited it…damn, but did they ever exploit it. Whenever I got into trouble with the teachers, they threatened to take my paints away. Whenever I felt the need to beat up another kid at school, they threatened to take my paints away. 

"I tried to run away. Eventually, I got enough money to move out for good, and it was a catharsis for me. I needed to leave the confinement of society. Always, always, the same damn threats -!"

"Shit!" I hissed. In my fury, I'd accidentally scrawled an ugly black mark over Fye's face. Quickly, I got out my tools, and scratched away my mistake.

In my mind, I was panicking. But it wasn't because of my mistake. I knew clearly that something inside me didn't want Fye to see the truth about me. But what was this…? Wasn't it only a moment ago when Fye had told me so confidently that he'd liked me because of my integrity…?

My mind spun like a whirlwind, rapidly twisting and tearing up the fragments of my mind…  

I don't trust him. Why don't I trust him…? 

I need to say something. But I can't…I can't! I don't trust him to accept my weakness…! I can't…I won't! Damn this! 

Meanwhile, Fye, who'd been engrossed in my story, stared at me strangely. I felt his eyes boring into me, as though he could see clearly through me. So clearly it frightened me, and made a disturbing shiver run through me. A small frown of concern was on his face. God bless this troublesome bastard for his compassion…! 

"Are you all right? I want to listen to you…but not if it's too much, too soon."

I stared at him helplessly, and even if only for a moment, I knew that my eyes had betrayed my terrible disconcertion. I covered my eyes with my free hand, and bowed my head, sighing in exhaustion. Something inside me threatened to implode if I elaborated on my conflicts with my family. It throbbed inside me in searing pain. 

God, I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him everything without hesitation. But not just him…everyone. Anyone. 

Something told me instinctively that if I expelled this from my heart, it would be okay. And yet…

You can't rush this, Kurogane. No one can. Even years upon years wouldn't wash away the pain until you find someone whom you can confide in. And he just isn't that person…not yet. 

Nodding weakly at Fye, I carefully changed the subject, while still following a similar strand so as not to betray my tactic completely. But even though I focused once again at the canvas and not at him, his face was an image burned into my mind. I knew he could see through my ploy. I knew he was somewhat unnerved by it. It was almost as though my plan was not to deceive him, but to deceive myself into thinking I'd done that. But there was nothing else that I was capable of at that point.

So I continued speaking. I was used to rambling, be it in the office of a psychiatrist or in a silent mansion. No problem at all.

It was the first secret I'd ever kept from him. And it was hell whenever I thought about it.

I didn't think about it.

-

"For years…so many years that I can't even remember…I'd been refining my skills, mostly by seeing how mainstream art has evolved, and trying to mimic it, then moving one step ahead," I continued, silently praying that I appeared unfazed as I mixed a hue of blue for Fye's glimmering eyes. "I didn't go to art school. I tried, but I couldn't stay with it. 

"Damn formulaic non-art," I muttered, discovering that I'd become naturally irritated, and Fye chuckled lightly from the water. I was slowly reclaiming my edge. Good. 

"I can't stand it. Having to be assigned a topic, then making it into art…there was no spirit to it! It was too difficult to be art…but too easy at the same time. Difficult, because a guy has to follow guidelines strictly in order to get recognized, even though beautiful inspirations flow like winding rivers, and no one can cage it with rule and criterion. But it was also too easy, because to do the standard art that they'd demanded, you didn't have to feel a damn thing. No love for your work, and no burning desire, no subsequent suffering. Putting a limit on art made it so uncomfortable that I'd stormed out after a month."

"Did it discourage you?" The merman asked curiously.

"Of course it did," I spat, feeling more and more comfortable by the moment. I'd become myself again. "I began to think that no one would ever appreciate the work I'd done so painstakingly, for so many years. I'd devoted myself to my art. If someone could just see that…! It was a moot point, apparently." 

"I understand…you were lonely." He smiled, his face a picture of lovely clemency…way too feminine. "But regardless of your quality as an artist, I think I'm going to like the work that you do today."

I blushed. So sue me. I hadn't been flattered in a long, long time. 

An invisible desire prompted me to ask, "Why?"

"Because I like you, and you are a part of everything you do. You put so much effort into all your art…! I'm sure that I'll like your painting. It'd be wonderful to see it when it's finished." Fye giggled. "Through it, I'll be able to see what it is you truly think of me, and if you made me more flattering than I really am, then…" 

His eyes gleamed. "…Well, then I'd know you really like me."

I glared at him impulsively, folding my arms. Clearly, I'd been distracted from the process of painting altogether; the blue paint that I'd finally exacted the value of, to match Fye's eyes, was smudging on my clean sleeve. "It's not going to be any more flattering than you make yourself out to be, you self-centered bastard."

"Haha…" 

"But it will be good," I assured him, pointing my brush at him in my assurance…then realizing that I'd brushed it all over the fabric of my sleeve. I sighed exasperatedly, wiping at it like a dumb monkey. "Even if I'm…a bit clumsier than usual," I added reluctantly.

"I'm sure it will," Fye laughed at the disgusted look on my face. His chortling rang as clear as morning bells, and as natural as a child's. "I just wanted you to know that I don't expect a contemporary Mona Lisa. That's all."

  
Wrinkling my nose, I grimaced.

A Mona Lisa…? 

Him, of all people? Can't believe the bastard's even suggesting - 

- Wait. No, wait a second…

I tilted my head slightly, observing his mannerisms with a touch of incredulousness on my features. There was a strange quality to the sensation that ran through me as he said those words. What was it about him that…?

Then, it hit me.

He was smiling, his head as thick as always, his slender, graceful tail splashing the water to and fro. He looked so casual, so relaxed as he soaked in the undulating patterns of the foam. In every way, he was the same as before. But something about him had just occurred to me, and it smacked me upside the head with all the tact of a sledgehammer. 

I was blown away. 

Oh…my…God. 

"Fye…?" I ventured carefully, my jaw refusing to pick itself up. My voice was a bare squeak, hardly audible.

"Yes?"

I stared at him, unable to avert my gaze. He was the same, but when he mentioned it – the similarity…! Damn it, I'd never thought of comparing him to anyone else. He was just Fye…dumb, silly, peculiar Fye with the genes of a slippery fish. I didn't even think to liken him to anyone else. 

But when I was little, I'd stared at the Mona Lisa for hours, studying the quality of the masterpiece, and that woman's elusive smile…! I could paint a carbon copy of the damn thing from heart, I knew it so well, and when I looked at Fye…I realized with absolute conviction that… 

"Your smile…it is dead on. It is just like hers."

Exactly like Mona Lisa's smile…! 

-

The Mona Lisa was one of my favorite paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci. When I was still too young to know right from wrong, when I'd only started painting, I was obsessed with it; I learned a whole slew of trivia about it that would never benefit me in later life. 

I was stupid in that way. 

What kinds of things did I learn? The painting, they said, was a portrait of one Madam Lisa Giocondo, known as "La Gioconda" in Italian and "La Jaconde" in French, though to hell with it if I could ever pronounce any of those names. It was possible, they said, that the damn woman never existed. It started being painted in 1503, and was worked and reworked to death for four years. It employed a style known as "sfumato", which meant that Da Vinci blended colors, traveling from tint to shade with incredible ease, his numerous brushstrokes almost invisible. After the artist's death, it traveled to many places, from Fontainebleau to the Tuileries to the Louvre…yeah. Things like that.

More? I could go on and on. It was stolen in 1911, and disappeared amongst a pile of lost strands and misleading clues for two whole years…people thought it was destroyed. They were wrong. In 1913 it reappeared, preserved so well it looked like it never left the museum. 

Such a mysterious smile could never fade away. 

I was intrigued by the woman's smile ever since I was young. And, ultimately, the painting boils down to that, no matter how much you know, no matter how much effort was put into it.

Why was she smiling? No one ever made a conclusive breakthrough on that one. It was an enigma throughout the ages…that which gave life to Da Vinci even after death, and made Mona a time-tested wonder. Her smile was as beautiful as it was strange. 

No one knew what secrets she hid behind her benevolent expression. When she smiled for Leonardo, the world began to wonder what elusive creatures hid behind it.

And when Fye smiled…

I believe I'll leave it at that. ^-^

Damn! I still haven't given Hinoto's baby his name!! Argh!! (Pulls out hair) Umi will bring that topic back into discussion next time! (I get the feeling I'll be using her as a reminder of finicky details very often…^-^;;)


	9. Coffeehouse Conversation: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

By now, I've been able to talk about Kurogane and Fye. That's all fine and good. Now I shall take the liberty of ranting about Syaoran-kun, who has been rather neglected as of late. ^-^;;

Ah…when I first heard about Card Captor Sakura, I was immediately taken with Syaoran. He was so adorable, with those fierce looking eyes, and he was capable of acting so debonair (not unlike a lot of CLAMP children)…! Back then, he was around my age…I think I was off by a couple of years. Nevertheless, this little boy, who was so devoted to his Sakura-chan, infatuated me. Nowadays (think a few years forward) I still think he's adorable in CCS…but I'm slightly older now, and like many girls my age, I really do like older boys. But Syaoran has always had a special place in my heart, because CCS was my first CLAMP series, and he was the first CLAMP character who'd captured my heart. 

In Tsubasa-RC, of course, the older Syaoran is different. He's no longer reprimanding Sakura or competing with childish confidence, and I'd expected that…I didn't really expect him to become so modest around Sakura-chan, though. Hm. ^-^;; But you know what? It works. With his love for her growing over the years, I suppose it's always possible for Syaoran to become a gentleman. Besides, Tsu-RC Syaoran grew up under different circumstances than CCS Syaoran; he never had the Clow Cards to worry about, so he was never trained to be much of a fighter. He's still a lover, though! ^-^

When it comes down to it, his love for Sakura was one of the main reasons I liked him in CCS, and continues to be the reason I like him in T-RC. In Tsu-RC, as I've mentioned previously, he acts a lot like Hikaru from Rayearth. Both of them are young and serious as hell, more serious than any other of the main characters. But…er…Hikaru's love triangle wasn't the reason why I liked her (Lantis? Eagle? For God's sakes, Umi is standing right there, you hyperactive jumping bean!! And I'm not usually such an avid supporter of shoujo-ai, either!! ^-^;;). I liked her because of her genuine spirit and her innocence.

There are other things to like about Syaoran too, such as his compassion and his work ethic. But Syaoran's devotion to Sakura is so admirable, and utterly believable, at least for me; in my perspective, it is the root of his character. If there was no Syaoran and Sakura, there would be very little Syaoran left at all, particularly in Tsubasa. Everything that drives him in T-RC has to do with Sakura…he lives to fight for Sakura's sake. "I still have something to do…so I won't die yet"…those words define the way he is. He has absolute belief that everything will be all right, so long as he still loves Sakura; when everything rides on one defining factor, faith makes so much difference, and Syaoran has so much faith…! Is it possible to love someone so much? 

Syaoran makes me believe that, at least in CLAMP's world, it is entirely possible to love someone else more than you love yourself, more than you love your life and identity. Kurogane and Fye…even if they have people they love back home, out of duty or out of admiration, neither of them can love anyone the way Syaoran loves Sakura. Syaoran is CLAMP's ideal lover; though young, he recognizes what is important in the world, and his priority is always the one he holds dear. He knows exactly what is right, and doesn't question it even when it hurts. No one else that CLAMP has ever created has had his devotion…save for a select few, such as our dear Tomoyo-chan who would sacrifice her own happiness for another.

What Syaoran has that Tomoyo doesn't have, however, is incredible courage. Even in T-RC's fantastic world, people possessing unshakeable courage are few and in between. He's not reckless, and there are only a few things that he needs, including protection for his love. Syaoran is deadly calm in battles because he is not afraid of anything, so engrossed is he in the task he has to perform. Very rarely does he ever cry for himself. He doesn't turn back and he doesn't complain. Syaoran is amazingly strong. When something pains him, he puts on such a smile that no one suspects except those who know him best. There is a fire within him that refuses to be quelled by even the harshest blows and the darkest rain.

Syaoran is easily the strongest of trio of Tsu-RC. Everything he tries to do will succeed in the end because he's doing them for someone else. So dependent is he on Sakura's recovery for his happiness that even gruff Kurogane doesn't want to hurt his chances, and helps him anyway. Even though he is incredibly serious, he really is very easy to love, especially for a gal like me. ^-^ The kid has enough conviction in his heart for both his companions, as they travel across the different worlds!

I think I'll talk about Sakura next (CCS, probably)! Meanwhile, here's the actual story! ^-^;;

Chapter 4: COFFEEHOUSE CONVERSATION 

_ Also known as_

_"A lesson in family bonding, among other things"_

_Part 1_

Umi woke up with a start at around noontime. Yelping in shock at how long she'd slept, she immediately went about tidying up her boxes and unpacking her supplies, muttering underneath her breath all the while. Bags and clothing were heaved all over the place as she went about making categories of shelves. She screamed in frustration several times due to her stepping on some random sharp object that she'd thrust onto the floor.

Because of the amazingly hollow halls, I managed to hear all of this. 

"Guess that's over." Putting down the sharp palette knife, and wiping away the dark paint with a dry towel, I shook off my lethargy with a quick stretch. Then, Ileaned back in my chair to inspect the picture I'd hovered over for the last four or five hours.

Well, now that I think about it...it captured the essence of Fye quite well. 

His features were placed acutely; anyone would've easily recognized that it was Fye's smiling face stretched across the sky-colored canvas. The misty blue of his eyes, and the sunshine waxing and waning against his strands of hair...they were there, all done as accurately as I could make it (if not a bit too flatteringly). The dark splotch that I'd accidentally stained his nose with had been scraped off, so it was hardly visible on his pale skin anymore. 

Other than that particular mishap, no other serious mistakes were made. I can safely say right now that I did some good work that day. 

But when I was inspecting it back then, I was troubled, panicky, and mildly insane. 

(I'm still mildly insane, of course.)

So I shook my head, muttered "...got to redo the damn hair someday..." and didn't bother to thank my uncomplaining model (who'd yawned fifteen times in the process, and tried to chase his tail in the water seven times out of boredom). Artists are like that. I was an artist. Logically, I was entitled to the goddamned privilege of acting like a whiny bastard over a decent piece of work, not unlike a lot of people with higher expectations than myself.

What?

"Can I see it?" Fye asked innocently, his face expectant. 

"No," I blurted instantly, ignoring the fact that the poor specimen had waited the entire morning in the same spot for a glimpse at the canvas. I felt so damn awkward that I wasn't able to do his face justice...! "It's a terrible painting. It doesn't even look anything like you. I'd disown it if I could."

He chuckled lazily. Judging by his slow swaying and his quiet voice, he was ready for a nap in the water. "You're silly...! It'll be all right. I don't demand as much out of you as you do out of yourself. I promise not to be a critic," he said, raising his hand and pledging. 

"Don't mock me."

"I'm not. Believe me, I wouldn't do anything like that." He raised a curious eyebrow. "Are you still upset about the wild goose chase the crew had on the Pufferfish this morning...? If you are, I'll try my best not to do anything like that again, so long as I'm staying here. But I wasn't mocking you then, and I will not mock you now."

"You don't know how well I can paint. It's too easy for you to go back on your word as soon as – "

"I'm not that type of person," Fye assured me sweetly. His large eyes were as sincere as they'd ever been, as he reasoned his way through my current dilemma, complete with gesticulation. "Clearly, if you cared about my opinion at all, you must've tried to make it good. And you do care about what I think. So it must've been done with considerable effort. I would never criticize someone who tries as hard as you do."

"And I'm sure it's all easy peasy for you to reason away my problem, but note that the problem is mine, and not yours," I growled, rising from my stool and packing up. "And as it is mine, and not yours, there's a hell of a lot more to it than you can see."

That wasn't altogether true. There wasn't a lot more that I could say about my hostility that Fye hadn't already said. All I could think of was the fact that I didn't want him to dislike me. The rest was all irrationality.

Why, though? What could Fye have possibly done to me if he disliked my painting? He couldn't leave – hopefully. I really didn't have a clue about that one. He couldn't exactly smack me. He could've, however, been silent and glared until the cows went home, but that wouldn't have served much purpose and it really didn't seem like something he was capable of doing without giggling insanely at his own seriousness. It sounded much more like something I would've done back then, because I was so pissed and unreasonable. 

I think I realized at that particular moment that, without Fye having to do anything mildly upsetting, I could be as mad as hell with him. I didn't even need a reason, much less a good one. All I needed was...me. Yes, in a way, I was insanely afraid of myself. 

Startling genius, that.

It was then that Fye scratched his chin, and said something really odd. Even for Fye.

" _'There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain, and though that nature with a beauteous wall doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee I well believe thou hast a mind that suits with this thy fair and outward character,' _" he quoted, gazing at me, absorbed in thought. 

"What the hell...?" was my intelligent rebuke.

I wasn't so worried about the fact that he called me "captain" as I was about the fact that he'd just recited Shakespeare. I'm not stupid. I remember this line from the many times that Sorata has nagged me to indulge in his literary madness. Of course, Fye didn't sound anything like Sorata when he'd said it; he had a melodious, contemplative voice, while Sorata "hallowed to the reverberate hills", so to speak, in his passionate theatre voice. Yes, you may very well shudder. 

All the same, I recognized the damn line. It was from the play "Twelfth Night". I'd read "Twelfth Night", incidentally, when I was in eighth grade; I'd failed that course, too, on purpose. I was one of those rare individuals who'd read Shakespeare, understood it, and then decided that they didn't like it, all in a very intelligent manner. Sort of. 

On my face, my scowl dissolved into memory and sluggish comprehension, as I took the quotation seriously and started to turn it over and over in my head. 

I know I knew what the damn quote means. But I can't remember...! Run through it, Kurogane. Catch any Elizabethan puns and riddles. "That nature with a beauteous wall doth often close in pollution, yet of thee I..." 

Oh. Oh, yeah...! 

In "Twelfth Night", Viola said this to the sea captain who'd rescued her from drowning! Um, ignoring the homosexual subtext and numerous obscenities that followed, the whole play was about misunderstanding, farce, and identity. Identity...! "...A beauteous wall doth often close in corruption..." Oh, hell, of course! Viola was saying that, even though an outward appearance may deceive, the captain was a fair man inside and out, and, and...

Well. That makes sense. 

I sighed heavily, and shook my head at Fye, who was watching as I sorted out his meaning with an amused look on his face. I gave him a tired smile, also, feeling a bit sorry for him. Damn, but he was persistent...! 

And he really wanted me to trust him, too. I could sense it. Hell, anyone could sense it. 

"All that meant was that you trust me to be the way you see me. That's kind of you, but that doesn't get either of us anywhere. You can say you trust me over and over again, but the painting...it doesn't change the fact that the painting's shit." I tilted my head in awe. "You...where did you learn how to recite Shakespeare...?"

"Someday, when you decide to divulge your secrets, maybe I will, too," he teased lightly, seemingly satisfied with the results of his latest quip. "I just want you to know that you'd have to do something pretty drastic to shake my trust in you. I may never see it, and you may never let me see it, but I know that the painting must be beautiful."

He grinned in that secretive way, as always. Hesitantly, moronically, I grinned back, almost mimicking him. I must've looked like a dumbass. ****

It's good to be trusted. Even for a few hours. 

Turning away, I collected my palette tools back into my paper bag and, carefully making sure that I wasn't about to smudge the paint, I picked up the canvas by one corner, slung my bag over my shoulder and started to walk away.

Then, Fye drew in his breath sharply, and said something odd again.

"Cockroach," he hissed.

"WHAT? Oh, hell...!" In a panicked frenzy, I dropped my supplies on the floor, and danced around insanely, swatting at myself. My painting flew to one side. The sharp palette knife pricked my foot, and I howled, tripping on my paintbrushes and landing squarely on my ass. And wouldn't you know it? I kept sputtering inanely and swatting. 

"W-Where is it? Where's the goddamned little bastard?" I screeched. 

 I couldn't see anything remotely resembling a cockroach, and I sure as hell didn't care. I hated bugs...! It all has to do with this one time when a swarm of bees flew at my mouth when I was doing a still-life painting of a garden, because I'd eaten artificially flavored candy earlier, and, and –

"Wow...this is incredible...!"

I momentarily froze in my vain attempts to slap a nonexistent invertebrate. "Wha...?"

Blinking, I saw that my canvas had been upturned when I'd gone crazy and let it collapse to the floor. Although not badly damaged, it was in plain sight for Fye to admire, which was in many ways a hell of a lot worse. 

"Oh...you're so infantile, to be ashamed of this...! Look at the fine attention to detail!" The merman cooed wondrously, his eyes glued to the canvas, and completely oblivious to the fact that I was on the verge of exploding. "This is so pretty...! Of course, I was never an ugly model to begin with, but..."

"Dear God..." My eyes were bulging angrily as I towered above him, "...do not tell me you did that just so that you could look at the painting."

Fye nodded smartly. A giggle escaped him, as he looked at me. 

There is nothing FUNNY about this situation...! 

"Any last words before I strangle you to death...?" I rumbled dangerously, my hands grasping at an invisible neck.

"Funny how you can trust me when it comes to certain things, and not others!" 

"GAAAAAAAAH!!!"

-

"You look sick," Umi remarked bluntly as I entered her room. Already, it had been tidied, everything arranged in petty neatness better than my room downstairs. She was very efficient at whatever she did, but particularly when it comes to chores. Damn her. She was sitting on one of her many fluffy pillows as I entered...snug as a bug in a rug. I could only think that she'd finished arranging everything within the last five minutes. 

It was almost kind of scary.

"I feel sick," I retorted, slumping down onto the bed beside her. "Hell...it's way too exhausting, this."

"Does it have something to do with the merman you have to take care of? Sorata told me about that, you know." Umi scoffed. Yep...she'd returned to her old grumpy self again. Her superiority complex was kicking in, too...and why shouldn't it? It's far from true, but everyone thinks she's perfect. The assholes. If I'd been able to loiter around the area for a few more years, I would've taught her a thing or two...

"Honestly...! A merman is psychologically inept, after having abandoned society; he's such a fragile creature, that he should be treated like a child! Can't you do better than to get angry at him over some little thing?"

"Watch your damn mouth," I snapped, albeit tiredly. I wasn't in the mood for anything, really. I was too busy feeling insulted by Fye...that prank was cheap and frighteningly effective. And he didn't even have to lift a fin to employ it. Cunning bastard. And that wasn't all he was, either. He was insightful, practical, and an optimist. He's half fish, and he's twice the man I'd ever felt I was. (Which is a real insult when you consider how feminine his looks are... )

To say the truth, I was beginning to feel a bit inept at everything. Not just being gullible, but that was as good a place to start as any. Lying down on the fleecy mattress, I narrowed my eyes.

"...Am I easy to trick?" I asked the ceiling, though I clearly intended it for the only other animate object in the room.

"Huh...?" Said object was temporarily taken aback by the sudden change in topic, and then grinned wickedly. I could just see the proficient little gears clicking in her head. She was surprised, because she thought she had me beat in the previous topic – she'd enjoyed proving me wrong ever since she realized it was biologically possible, and damn it, but I regret ever letting her know that – but now she's happy again, because she gets to do the same thing twice. Hence, she believes she'd feel twice as good about herself. 

Typical teenager. You'd think she'd derive pleasure from insulting someone at least with a little more dignity and wit, but again, this is Umi we're talking about. 

"Well, of course!" 

Umi flicked me on the forehead. Which hurt. As in, ow. I'm confident enough in my masculinity to admit that. But I didn't complain...I just let her drone on. 

"You were always a bit too gullible. Don't you remember? On April Fool's, it was like a field day for the other kids just teasing you. Every year, when you got back, you were covered in paintballs and yellow sop, and you smelled like eggs and fish. It was disgusting." She wrinkled her nose. "And to tell you the truth, I was kind of ashamed of you."

"Oh?"

"Well, let's see...when you were younger, you wouldn't retaliate at all, Mom said. I wasn't around to see that, though it's actually not as hard to believe as people say. But after a while, you started beating kids up," she recounted, sighing with pitiful nostalgia as she played with a fine strand of her long hair. She wouldn't look at me, but I gazed up at her intently. "You'd started being violent even before I was born. 

"When I was little, and you and me and both our families still lived together, you used to beat up all the kids who got you on April Fool's. You remember this. Some of them actually deserved to be beaten, of course," she added fiercely, "because of the way they teased you; they weren't being good sports at all. They were just using the innocent theme of the day to their advantage. But the day after April Fool's, your mom and dad always had to go see the principal and his body count."

I smirked. "Last time I'd racked up more or less thirty broken noses."

"In university!" Umi smiled sadly. "You've always been so infantile...!"

"Did you resent me for spoiling your reputation? Everyone knew I was your uncle. When you went to school the very first day, teachers were intimidated by you. A six-year-old girl! Just because they'd all taught me, and I hadn't been the best pupil..." I murmured softly. 

I had considered this before...when Umi came back that day, she – being uncannily bright – asked me whether the staff at her school knew who I was. She was really very cute and harmless, of course, despite the fact that she would snap occasionally. We have to keep the tantrums within the family.

"No, I didn't resent you for that."

I raised an eyebrow, and surveyed her severely, until she finally laughed.

"Stop staring like that! Honestly!"

"You weren't telling the truth."

"No...not entirely," she admitted with reluctance. Her expression was bitter, as though she was secretly ashamed of something. In all the time that I'd known Umi, I'd rarely ever seen her appear nervous, so unsure of herself. Her confidence was something that defined her. 

She smiled sadly. "I did resent you for that...when I was little. I had only a few friends. As a result, my academic performance was all that I cared about. But when people saw me, they saw in me a part of you, and your records reflected onto me. I felt responsible for the things that you did, and I hated that...! I thought it cruel that you'd sabotaged all my good work before I'd even begun schooling. 

"Now that I look back on it, I do regret how selfish I was, and how insecure I'd been. It was really pathetic of me. But when I was in elementary school, you used to pick me up in the afternoon, and my friends would stare and whisper. There was no getting around the fact that you and I were related. And we are alike, in some ways more than others. I don't mean to get angry with people, but somehow I end up doing it a lot, and people overreact when I do. I knew what they were thinking behind their benign expressions: that someday, I would explode. Someday, I'd snap completely, and become just like you. They were waiting for it...the overachievers, the competition. They all shamelessly awaited my downfall.

"It may sound paranoid, of course. But I think that was as close to the truth as I'd ever get. And I wanted to pretend that you never existed. When I couldn't do that, I imagined that you existed only to hinder me, and I'd get upset with you. There were days when we'd yell and scream. And then, there were days when I was so angry that we'd never communicate. I'd hide behind a veil of silence."

"Sometimes I wondered if there was something the matter with your head," I murmured slowly, closing my eyes. "You turned from hot to cold instantaneously, day in, day out. I was seriously considering whether or not you were crazy. When we yelled at each other, it wasn't so bad. You were an obstinate little brat, and I knew that you were only confused and frustrated. The fact that our age difference isn't exactly standard fare for uncle and niece didn't help tame you any; I was almost young enough to be considered a much older brother, to you. 

"But whenever you went quiet, it was a startling transition. I would be kind of afraid that I'd actually upset you," I admitted, grinning wryly. Umi's eyes widened at this. "Everyone has their breaking point. Even you."

"I never thought you cared."

"I never said I did."

She giggled. "This is doing wonders for family bonding. If your mom found out...!"

"So...what about when you were older? When I left the family? Did you still think that I was the bane of your existence?"

"No." Umi shook her head, neatly trimmed bangs flying this way and that. Her beautiful eyes were solemn. "After you left the house, I grew up considerably. Without you around, I realized something."

"What?"

"I cared more about having you around than about my grades." She made a face, as though she were actually upset at me. "Even though I was reluctant to realize this, I knew this because said grades fell considerably after you left. The house didn't even seem like a working environment without your unending chatter. I didn't know why! And I was angry with myself for a while. 

"But it was all right. You were important to me. Remember what the Greeks said? "Everything in moderation?" Well, I thought I could tread through my troubles without getting my shoes dirty. I was a bit of a coward. But everything in life benefits you...especially a person who takes care of you. After a while, I guess I just figured out that rivalry and company made me a better person. I couldn't be a great student if I weren't a great person. And I had a bit of trouble being a great person without a friend."

Ah. Music to my ears. 

"You missed me," I deduced slyly after a small pause, my grin positively evil. "Life didn't seem half as good without my incompetence around, did it?"

Umi looked embarrassed, regretting she'd ever said anything to me. "Well...!"

For a while, we stayed like that, basking in the gentle quiet of the room. In the clear light of the sun, Umi looked as radiant as ever, her eyes reflecting a rippling spectrum of color. If I tried hard enough, I think I could almost hear her heartbeat, she's so nervous. I don't think we had ever talked like this before. Considering how often we used to talk, that's saying something. 

She probably didn't feel very graceful at that moment, but in my eyes, she was absolutely flawless. 

There was something very powerful inside of Umi, a passive strength. She didn't see it then, though. But any fool would've. She was lovely, yes, but she was no porcelain doll. She was a willful woman, and she controlled her own destiny. She had a presence that struck others, embellishing her image in their hearts for days, weeks, months...lifetimes. 

Umi had such a way with words...the way she spoke was extraordinarily convincing. Truly, she was someone to be scared of.

What can I say? It runs in the family. 

I couldn't have been prouder.


	10. Coffeehouse Conversation: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Author's Notes:_

Before I start ranting about nothing in particular, I would like take this moment to say that, for those of you who haven't seen the update, Tokyopop has announced on their website that they have not only licensed Lawful Drug (Among other series – check the site!), but will also be publishing it in October of 2004! A very long wait, for those of us who love the manga, but I'm not complaining! ^-^ Tokyopop loves to hog CLAMP's manga to themselves...but I don't have a bone to pick with them about that. If I owned my own manga publishing company, I'd do the same thing. ^-^;; 

Now, they have changed the name to Legal Drug, so they claim. Um. (_Scared reader: _Whaaaat? -;;) Technically speaking, "lawful" is a word, but "legal" is just more frequently used, so it flows off the tongue more easily. Just a marketing scheme, ladies and gents - don't shoot the messenger. ^-^;; 

Well, now that I've announced that, I will continue ranting about CLAMP characters. I promised Sakura-chan would get a turn in the spotlight this time. Since, as Kurogane has remarked in T-RC, Tsubasa's Sakura always acts like she's rowing a boat, I might as well talk about our original card capturing Kinomoto Sakura. ^-^

Sakura is a sweetheart. ^-^ (Yep, start with the obvious, and take off from there...) She's innocent, saccharine, and loves everyone around her wholeheartedly, even those who oppose her. As a result of her compassion for the people around her, she isn't always able to speak her mind, and can sometimes come off as a bit shy because she doesn't want to say anything that may cause problems (i.e. when she told Yukito that it was all right for him to like her brother, when in actuality she was hurting inside, poor girl). Her modesty often works against her...so it's a good thing that she's so courageous and enduring.

She's very obedient, as everyone knows, and her family is such a huge priority for her. Sakura's such an endearing little girl because she always tries hard at everything that she does, even mathematics, which she abhors. And you can't ask for a better person than one who is constantly trying. Sakura's got a brave spirit, and is not afraid of making mistakes. If something is puzzling her, whether it is a problem at school, a problem of the heart, or a magical riddle, she just keeps at it determinedly. As a result of her enthusiasm for everything, she tends to have a few more falls than the average person. ^-^;; But she's adorable that way. In many ways, I wish I could be that brave. ^-^;;; (I'm a real social outcast...if you're reading my fanfiction, the odds are, you will be able to relate to this...-;;;)

But of course, the main reason why I like Sakura – even though she doesn't have as many personality quirks as the average CLAMP character – is the same reason why I like Hikaru and Kotori and Kohaku and Anne Frank and et cetera and et cetera. It's because of her optimism. Sakura's optimism defines her. Her belief in humanity is the reason why she is the main character, the reason why she became the mistress of the Clow Cards when others could not. She has more hope than Syaoran does, than the vast majority of her contenders do, and as Umi said in MKR, cute, innocent little girls are just so few nowadays. And Sakura's hope gives others hope, makes others smile. There is no better gift. 

Hell, she was the one who invented the catchphrase, "everything would be all right", wasn't she? As Yuuko of XXXHolic was quick to point out, that phrase is an invincible spell. No one could ever destroy the belief that our brave little Sakura has in the incredible opportunities that tomorrow brings, because of all the happiness in her heart. No one would ever make her forget the value of the humanity and compassion shown to her as she struggled to become worthy of the cards. 

...

And after all that, you'd think she'd be my favorite CLAMP character, right? 

Well. Eheh. ^-^;;; I'll leave you guys to speculate on that...more ranting later! (Probably regarding the Scavenger crew!)

Chapter 4: COFFEEHOUSE CONVERSATION 

_ Also known as_

_"A lesson in family bonding, among other things"_

_Part 2_

"Uncle..."

"Hm?"

Umi turned towards me. The light cascaded from her face in shimmering rays, leaping off of her supple skin and echoing the majesty of her shapely cheekbones. Okay, too much detail. "What I'd said, just now...it doesn't mean that I'm entirely proud of you. In some ways...some small ways...I am still ashamed of you."

I closed my eyes. I was expecting this. Truthful girl. She was wily, but she would never be caught compromising her integrity, and I had a feeling that this would seal the integrity of everything she'd said up until now.  "Go ahead."

"Sometimes..." she said slowly, choosing her words with care, "...I think you really are too easily hurt."

I'll admit that caught me off guard. At this point, I'd forced myself to sit up, somewhat stunned. Despite the fact that she was quite tall for her age, Umi was shorter than I was – which was no miraculous discovery, since I was a bit taller than most everyone – and so I ended up hovering over her urgently instead of meeting her at eye level.

"Too easily hurt...?" 

She nodded, determined to continue; she wasn't about to back away from her point, despite my incredulous tone. 

Maybe she's just trying to win back her dignity, considering what I said to her in the foyer. Hell, I wish that were true...I hope she doesn't have a real point in what she's saying, and can't prove anything with it. I hope she's just 

Because that's exactly what it's sounding like. 

"In this way, you're a lot like the way I used to be, Uncle Kurogane. You work and work, and the rest of the time, you distance yourself from other people so that you can think about your work. In the city, you couldn't even do that properly. People irritated you. You were a free spirit...and so you searched for a place to go where you wouldn't be criticized ever again. That deserted island must've been paradise for you."

I coughed deliberately, narrowing my eyes. "Ahem. Anti-Paradise. Partly due to a certain pain in the ass..."

"Sorata was only trying to be nice to you...! But you didn't even let him get a word in edgewise about your reclusive behavior. You just ignored him, continuing to be alone, when the time that you'd spent with him could've been used to secure a friendship...one of the only friendships you'd ever have a chance at." She took my hand in hers, almost patronizingly. "If I'm not mistaken, you're starting to realize now that being alone isn't accomplishing much. Isn't it so?"

I didn't answer. I was too proud. But if I had answered...well, she knew what my words would've been. 

Drunken nights, dazed and weary, I'd wished to God that I wasn't so alone...! I'd woken up from hazy stupor crying for no reason more than once. Yuuko saw it, and so did Gingetsu. Umi spotted it even though I hadn't seen her for ages. There was a bottomless abyss, somewhere in my bitter heart, behind a myriad of human weaknesses. But what could I have done? What could I have...

A single tear rolled down my cheek. I stifled my whimpers. It was too much. I bit on my lip harshly, trying my best not to talk, and I tasted pain and salty nausea. 

There were a million reasons why I was alone. She knew them, too. She could probably have ticked them off on her finely manicured fingers. Father...mother...school...women...society...prejudice...expectation...on and on into infinity. I had worn myself out just thinking about all the enemies I have gained in this world. Screaming and kicking never helped when I was young, and now that I'm older, I...

I can't get my life back. I...I can't. No one will...no one will ever...I... 

Umi sighed, helplessly eyeing me as even my mind broke down into incoherency, and I slumped over, wracked with thick sobs. She patted my shoulder, unable to aid me. At that point, I'd begun thinking that no one could help me anymore. I was going to be alone for...forever. Forever. It's worse than not existing...

"A girl can't help but pity someone who has so much to give and so little to love. Uncle...if you were me, you'd be ashamed of you, too," she murmured softly, sympathetically, as though I were a child. Goddamn it, but I was a child... "It is true that you'd had a lot of enemies ever since you were little. Special people always do. And you have a gift in you for which you'd been persecuted for most of your life, your unrestrained originality...even your parents disliked your untamed art. Everyone deserves to trust at least their family members, but you never had a chance to..."

She paused. There seemed to be nothing more to say. 

The silence was a vacuum. With its ominous wings, it embraced Umi's thought in fog and acid, and carried them away into oblivion. It burned away the thin threads that held us together but a moment ago...

...So I thought. 

But once again, I had underestimated my gorgeous young niece, wise beyond her years...and mine. Abruptly, she changed the subject. "You were very silent when I woke up. While I was arranging my shelves, it seemed like you'd finished some quiet work, and was starting to talk to someone."

This didn't seem to pertain to the subject at all. So I nodded numbly, rubbing away at my sore eyes. 

"Were you with the specimen?"

"...Yes."

"Were you painting him?"

"Yes."

There was a sharp breath drawn, as pieces of an imaginary jigsaw puzzle fell together at Umi's feet. Her eyes were alight with a silent strategy. "You showed him what you'd done, right?"

"I did. I didn't want to, but he tricked me into it. I...I didn't do a very good job." For some reason, I was falling into her trap like a dumb dog. But in a way, I guess there'd been no way of avoiding it. "But he liked it anyhow."

I removed my hands from my eyes, and I was surprised to see that Umi was beaming. Yes, she was unrestrainedly beaming, with an almost crazed gleam in her eyes. There was success written all over her expression. I'd seen this look before...or, rather, a more infantile version of this look, when little six-year-old Umi had won the first junior spelling bee in our region. She was easily as devilish then as she was now. And hyper. She was definitely hyper. But that would be me digressing.

Naturally, I made an inquisitive face. "What?"

"You don't get it, do you?" She laughed triumphantly. "Someone likes your art, Uncle Kurogane!"

And suddenly, I began to see the logic in her words. "So...you're saying..."

"There is nothing more honest than the preference of a specimen whom you hardly know! Uncle, this creature is a stranger to you. But he already likes you. He likes your painting, regardless of the fact that you haven't had formal training. He isn't scared of you, if he has actually tricked you into letting him see it. No one can be alone and unloved forever, especially not someone with a talent like yours!" 

She wagged a finger at me sternly. "This is your chance, Uncle! This is someone who is not afraid of you! Now is the time to prove that you can be a friend to someone, and that you do regret the childhood that you'd spent, taking abuse from others and shunning them! This specimen...he's not like the urban children you'd grown up with; this merman doesn't know how to be cruel. He's like you...unaffected by society. He shows you compassion. Now, I know you are strong, Uncle. You can overlook the past, and prove that you can take a great opportunity when you see one!"

I was taken aback. Umi had shocked me yet again...the total count must've been kind of ridiculous at that point. And she was right...damn it, but she was. I couldn't afford to sulk at this point; it took one very brash relative to shake me out of my self-pity, and for once, I was grateful. I had to stop complaining, and help myself, for once. It was hard, but...

Fye had genuinely liked me. Strangely enough, I found myself unable to argue with that. 

  
He was unpredictable, but he really, really seems to like me.

"And if you lose this chance, my opinion of you will drop to an all-time low, and you know it!" She continued, and pulled on my ear teasingly. "You hear?"

Ultimately, I couldn't help but laugh along with her.

Same old Umi. 

-

"There's something you need to know about Fye," I warned her as we descended the steps into the main lobby. Seeing Umi angry was kind of embarrassing. Seeing Umi scream in terror, on the other hand, was a horrible strain on my ears. No way in hell was I going to go through that, so I figured I'd just get it over with.

"What is it?" Umi smiled patronizingly. "Come on, you can tell me!"

Prick...! What the hell did you think I was about to do? You little – 

Stop. Just. Stop that. Yeah, a chill pill would be nice. 

Get over it, damn you. What happened to the nice family bonding just a moment ago? 

No, wait. I know what happened! Umi opened her damn mouth again, that's what. 

I nearly screamed. Now that schizophrenia was kicking in, it should've been no problem at all, dealing with two exceptionally difficult people for two hellish days. No problem at all...  

Stop it! Stop it stop it stop it stop it - 

"Uncle!" Umi exploded. "Why...are you slapping yourself?"

I froze in mid-slap, and tried desperately to regain my composure. As if I wasn't infantile enough before this...slapping invisible cockroaches and the like; therapy was looking better and better by the moment.  "N-No reason."

"So...? What were you going to tell me?"

I blinked owlishly, and then turned a furious red. A huge vein was throbbing at the base of my neck. If possible, she sounded even more patronizing than she did before. At this point, I actually wanted to make her scream, so I gave it a shot.

"What I was going to say was...that Fye is not like a normal merman," I hissed. "He can speak."

And Umi, knowing absolutely nothing about my trade, shrugged dumbly. "So? Can't all the mutants in the mainland speak? I can speak perfectly, and so can you. Even heavily deformed human beings should have logical mind. If I'm not mistaken, this 'Fye' is only – "

"...Scaly from the waist down, classifying him as _homo piscis_, a half-fish," I recited tiredly from memory. "I know what the hell you learned in elementary school, Umi. I know. But, if you had taken into consideration how little anyone knows today about the goddamned Clover Project and its chemicals, the action of shutting up and listening to your elder would have occurred to you. Here's the deal. All the mutated human beings that escape into the wild are more than a little loopy. You follow?"

She nodded, though a bit stubbornly. 

"Don't like being treated like a little kid? Swallow your pride. In any case, said mutations have inhaled a little too much of the chemicals from the Rebirth, and therefore their pia maters are somewhat corroded. The chemicals invade their pituitary gland, amongst other things. It basically tells them to get the hell out of the city. People who have actually inhaled the factory toxins develop animal maturity and instincts faster than other people, instincts that may not react until years and years after the event. It's a defect that can be passed onto their children."

"How do you know all this?" she asked, a bit surprised. 

"I'm privy to this kind of information. I had to take a basic course in it before I could become a Scavenger."

"Even though all you do is mop?"

Damn Sorata, telling her every little... "Yes..." I muttered sarcastically, "Even though. Shocking, isn't it?"

"So what you're saying is that...the specimens you recover, they're insane, so they automatically forget their human language and everything they've learned?" 

I nodded. "Yep, that's about right. Their animal instincts suppress their memories of the mainland, even as far back as childhood. Everything they ever knew disappears. In order to live as animals, they can't pine for humankind. That means a basic emptying of the head, of everything they ever loved or felt was necessary. That's why..." I added, "...it's such a miracle that Fye knows how to speak. Really well." 

"So he's smart...?" Umi considered this quietly, although in truth, her mind had done a bit of wandering. A whimsical light flashed in her eyes, as something occurred to her. If I were paying any attention to this disturbing detail at all, I would've taken a run for it. 

"You know, this reminds me of a certain Hans Christian Andersen story..."

...If steam didn't shoot out of my ears...! "Damn the little mermaid! Damn your Andersen's fairy tale! Where the hell did that connotation come from?" I screamed exasperatedly. "What the hell are you suggesting, you little bitch? Were you or were you not listening when I said that it was a mer_man_? As in, not female?" 

But it was too little, too late. Umi was already prancing around delightedly like a twittering bluebird. 

"That is such a cute relationship!" She gasped, a realm of new possibilities swarming about in her deranged mind. Umi was by no means very practical. All of a sudden, I found her latching onto my arm with surprising zeal, her eyes huge star-speckled voids. "Uncle...! This never occurred to me before, but do you really like him? Really, really, REALLY..."

My eyes bulged out in horror. "NO!"

"But this kind of thing always happens in yaoi manga...!" she nudged me teasingly. 

I bashed her into a wall.

-

Dazed and disoriented, Umi climbed out of the huge crater I'd crushed her into, a huge fist print on her eye. Even so, the little wench was cackling with glee as she departed into the kitchen, eager to bake up a fresh cake for the fairy tale couple. So she figured, anyhow. 

Cake. The preferred desert of bitching blue-haired nieces everywhere. 

As much as I hated to admit it, in my mind, I knew that there was something that stuck about what she said. "The Little Mermaid" was uncannily similar to the situation I was in, thanks to some morbid twist of fate. An almost magical sea creature was washed up and found by humans. It was entirely unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. It pretended to be mute for a while, before the truth was revealed. And it seemed determined to toy with me some before it left my custody. 

Of course, the mermaid in the fairy tale was impossibly beautiful. Fye was...

Er...

Well, he isn't bad looking, all things considered. The salt water hasn't affected his complexion too much. And he does have those eyes, which seem to mirror the unfathomable ocean...

Unfathomable. Now, there's a word for Fye. Unfathomable, like the sea. He talks and talks, but never seems to reveal anything about himself. His smile eludes everyone, and he looks so innocent. But there is something behind this act. It's only an instinct, but...Fye isn't what he seems to be. He really...

...All I know is that there's something I don't understand about him, at all. I need to find out what this is. 

Like the sea. Unfathomable. 

The little mermaid was also unfathomable. Before she departed tearfully from the prince's castle, and melted into foam in the cruel waters, her love was never able to figure out her secret: that she was a princess who, if she only had the voice, would've surely prevented herself from certain death. 

That prince was a dumbass.

I refuse to be one. 

-

After a day of running about, Umi had finished cleaning up the entirety of the mansion. She'd vacuumed for hours on end, humming songs atop the terrible roar of the machine. She'd rearranged furniture, which a certain white-haired bastard was sure to notice when he returned. She'd complained endlessly about the trails of mess I'd left behind in my room. She'd plucked the weeds from the garden and deloused most of my closet. Being as nosy as she is, she peeked into Gingetsu's rooms as well, something I was too busy to think about doing.

I would've, you know. Any of the Scavengers would've. If one thinks about the blackmail possibilities...

But I was too stupid to. Besides, I was occupied with more important things. Such as, eating cake. Such as, changing the water in Fye's pool. Twice. Such as, giving food to Hinoto's little baby.

Okay, okay. I really didn't want to know what was in Gingetsu's room. If I wanted to go in, I would've done so. It was his private property, and the last time anyone snuck a glance at his property...

Well.

Let's just say that Kazuhiko and I paid dearly for going into his photo album, recopying the smutty pictures of Ran and himself onto Sorata's computer, and posting them in chain mail. God. That happened about a year ago, and it was a hell of a lot of fun! But somehow, somehow he found out, and he had a heck of a time punishing us. He hired this scary woman from the mainland, named Presea, who kept stalking us and planting traps for us and setting her cat Mokona on us...we were scarred for life. I think she was a pseudo-masochist. 

So when Umi asked me cheerfully if I wanted to see inside the man's room, I told her to be sure to wipe off her fingerprints on the door. I did not want to see Presea again...ever. 

The sunset illuminated the crystalline windows. It was almost evening. I figured that now was as good a time as any to approach Fye on the subject of his origin. I didn't expect to get an answer, but curiosity compelled me to try anyway. I needed to know what secrets he hid, whether they were hurtful. Again, I had no idea where I got that inclination, but...

He looked too gentle. There must've been a malevolent streak in him. There always is, in every human being. And he was as human as Umi and me. 

When I entered the huge room, he was still gazing at the potted plant that was Hinoto's offspring, and pondering quietly. He rested his head on his arms, hovering over the edge of the pool. He looked truly forlorn, and innocent as anything. I knew what it was he was thinking about, and it surprised me that I could know anything about him with conviction.

He was thinking about the young willow's name.

"I think we should call him Kakyou," he murmured softly, apparently sensitive to the sound of my footsteps, "just like Umi suggested. It's a beautiful name, for a beautiful child. In the light of the dying sun, he looks even lovelier."

"He does," I agreed, staring at Kakyou. He was blushing a shade of crimson, as the sun flashed its last sparkling rays over the water, through the clear window, to bid him farewell. The relationship between a plant and the sun is intimate, and amazingly intense. The little thing had been staring out of the window the entire day...slowly, ever so slowly, it had angled itself in the direction of the magnificent light. It must've taken it a lot of effort, but it was clearly bent in favor of the shimmering sea and the glow that now sunk beneath the ocean.  

We all watched the sun for a long time, as each sparkling star on the water trailed off into the horizon, disappearing. Then there was darkness, and the quiet of the rolling waves. A pure gloom settled over the shapeless sky...

...Then the stars blinked on.

One, two. Little by little, everything became illuminated by the natural radiance of the galaxy. There was a spiritual bliss to be gained from watching this. As constellations began to dot the night, I felt an ethereal connection to the space beyond. Everything around me seemed to disappear, melt into inconsequence...

"You look peaceful," Fye remarked, a genuine smile setting over his face. He'd been watching, too, and he had to force himself to look back at me, to take his eyes off the heavens above. The transformation of day to night was so incredible to behold, that I felt a helpless sort of regret when I finally returned his gaze. I'd severed my connection with nature...I was no longer alone.

But Fye's eyes reflected the cosmos, and gave them life. His smile was impossible to hate. I felt myself exhaling, unaware that I'd been holding my breath for so long. 

Being alone was blissful, but being with someone like Fye was...

"I was hoping you'd tell me where you came from," I whispered, for no apparent reason. My subconscious was clearly in control. As dangerous as that had been, I allowed it to dispel my thoughts like a steady stream. "But now, I'm not sure I need to know."

"Really?" He asked softly.

"You're an enigma, and maybe you're withholding secrets from me. I know that, despite all the honesty we've had with one another so far, there is something behind your eyes. It was troubling me all day." 

I stared deeply into his eyes. "But your secrets are beautiful. And seeing the sunset with you, it...made me realize something. I would be devastated if I ever made you uncomfortable. I need you to be as carefree as you were just now. I don't want you to pry. I don't want you to persist. We both have our secrets, and it'd be wonderful if we could come together, but look towards the sky instead of each other...giving each other strength, but not involving ourselves in each other's mysteries. The mysteries are all we have. 

"So I don't care if you don't want to be close to me. I don't care if you don't like me. But I would care if you hated me," I concluded. 

Suddenly, I was fully awake, and found that there was a gaping emptiness within me where questions and doubts used to be. I'd shared my innermost thoughts with Fye, somehow...and he was as surprised as I was. There was a silence.

"How does it feel to say what you want to say...?" He finally asked me. His eyes glowed intensely, like two shining gems, his pale hair damp around his face. He was mesmerized.

"I..." I began uncertainly, unable to find a vehicle for my rampant train of thoughts. 

"Please tell me."

So I told him the only thing that I was sure of, after that mind-numbing revelation. "I don't regret it."

"Then neither will I," he said, a touch uncertain. I'd never seen Fye look vulnerable before that point, but there was fear in his eyes as he told me this, as though I'd become a sort of beacon that had become elevated, untouchable. He was genuinely afraid of something...of reaching the height that I'd attained. He never expected it out of me. I never expected it out of myself. And now, he'd been struck with a sense of insecurity he'd never known before. 

For the first time, someone like me was capable of something he wasn't. And I was too shaken to even realize it.

"I will tell you what you want to know about me," he promised me, his voice unsteady, but his glare firm.     

And he did.

Sorry about the late update!! ^-^;;;; Well, these two chapters were mainly devoted to the relationship between Kurogane and Umi, which most people wouldn't really care about, since it isn't canonical. But I would love it if someone found this collection of insights into their pasts even remotely interesting. ^-^

Well, you know what the next chapter will be about! So hang in there for another week or two!


	11. Seafoam and Fireshine: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

The choices for the individuals on the Scavenger crew were quite random. ^-^ There wasn't any specific pattern that I wanted to follow in their selection, even though there were some of them (i.e., Suu) who were guaranteed to be there. I'd wanted to make sure that the crew was diverse. Well, this being CLAMP fanfiction, that wasn't a problem. I had a very bold and beautiful array of characters that I could choose from...for the most part, I chose characters that were not in my previous fanfic. Of course, I didn't let that limit my little motley.

I knew that Suu was going to be there from the start. Suu was one of the more intriguing characters that CLAMP had ever created (not that the others don't have their quirks), primarily because she had seen so much and spoke so very little. She was such a very beautiful symbol, a trapped bird – there are many trapped birds, it seems, in futuristic novels, but her circumstances and her story were very compelling, simply because many times, she doesn't get a happy ending. She doesn't even get a chance to rebel. The very fact that she had to sit and watch everyone suffer from afar without being able to do anything was tragic. She is a four-leaf, and as such, she should've been powerful. Her life should've been her own.

Suu was an emblem of loneliness and longing. She was just perfect for this love story. There is such an air of mystery about her...! Later on, Suu would probably get to play a larger role...I believe that that would be apropos. 

Because Suu was there, I simply had to add other Clover characters. I'd given Gingetsu a very prominent role on the Pufferfish, mostly because he was also an enigma, and had much to offer underneath his silence. Gingetsu was a passionate man, who would sometimes let his emotions sway his better judgment. Even though he appears gruff, he does care about the people around him. Add that to his seriousness and dedication to the task, and he made a great leader. He's very suave, no? For his sake, I added mentions of Ran, the gentle boy we all know and love. Go Ran! ^-^;;

Then, there was Kazuhiko, whom Suu simply couldn't do without. In the first book of Clover, the main interaction was between him and Suu...because the former bounces ideas off the latter, an atmosphere is established, and we learn about Suu's complexity, through what questions she answers, which ones she evades, what decisions she has made...without Kazuhiko, she was a character who wouldn't have been established very well at all. Kazuhiko himself is a quiet and reserved man, but truly in him lies a beating heart...he knew love to be a painful thing, for he'd given everything to it, only to let fate rob it from him. Fate was cruel sometimes. But all the same, he did end up liking Suu, and there is a bittersweet tinge to their relationship. I think his outlook on life will be important for Kurogane to learn from in the fic.

At this point, I decided to deviate from Clover characters (as great as they are) and move onto series that are completely different. XXXHolic came to mind. Therefore, I added Watanuki and Yuuko, both great characters, even though the series has only run for a couple of volumes so far. Yuuko was absolutely mandatory...I absolutely loved her aggressive approach to everything. But of course, you'd need a bit of force to help random people with addictions. She seemed like such a free spirit, and she was wise, to boot. It was laughable how odd she was compared to everyone else...she had such a sadistic look on her face, and an attitude to match. Even though I may not agree on her on the subject of destiny (CLAMP seems to have a thing for foreordained destiny, huh?), I think that it is impressive how she always encouraged her clients to make choices for themselves, because ultimately, it was the only thing that mattered. She wanted them to get their priorities in order, be happy. It didn't matter what happened after that. She is very good at doing this strange type of job...^-^;;; Therefore, I planted her down into this fic, in order to drum some common sense into Kurogane's brain. ^-^  

Watanuki was, of course, necessary – someone had to balance Yuuko out! -;; When I first started reading XXXHolic, I thought he was dull. He overreacted some, sure, and got irritable very easily. In every CLAMP series, there's a character or two doing that (Kazahaya, Umi, and Kurogane all come to mind...). I probably thought he was dull because Yuuko was just so bizarre that she took all the attention away from everyone else. ^-^;;; But after a little while, Watanuki's frustration with his gothic mistress began to grow on me (_Watanuki:_ (raising a duplicate of Sakura's wand in the air): What is this? What the hell can you do with _this? _-;;). He really is quite unintentionally funny. And he's just such a coward sometimes...plus, because he's so normal (a real pushover), he's great for Yuuko to play off of. I put him in this fic mainly because he's just such a sharp-eyed fellow. He notices many things, and he is good at figuring out the trouble with other people. His compassion allows him to be aware of their miseries, and to be sympathetic to them. He'll be giving Kurogane advice, probably. ^-^

More later!

Chapter 5: SEAFOAM AND FIRESHINE 

_ Also known as_

_"A Glimpse of the Truth"_

_Part 1_

Yes, Fye promised to tell me everything. He did.

Just not all at once.

For certain, he didn't fulfill the promise that night, during which he told me some half-truths and whole lies. I forgave him for that. What trust we had before was slowly starting to break apart, and I'd expected it to happen. There was truly something lurking in the shadows of Fye's past. I knew how hard it must've been for him. What was important was that he tried.

And hell, but he tried. I could see the pain in his eyes, the apprehension that I wouldn't accept him as he was. I knew that he couldn't have told me everything...because by the end of it, he still looked that way. He was still trembling afterwards, as though he was afraid that I'd see through his mask, that his answers weren't satisfactory. Doubt was sinister. It revealed everything I needed to know. He still didn't trust me. But he tried so hard...

It was all right. He told me everything later, sincerely. By then, I'd figured out most of what he failed to say.

"I was born on the mainland..." he began in a tentative voice, "...in a laboratory.

"I wasn't a member of the Clover Project, that did experimentation with human beings in order to break the genetic code, and to allow humans to merge with other life forms. I wasn't responsible for the Rebirth in any way. But I was alive when it began. I looked a lot like I do now, when the accident occurred. I was an illegitimate child, born from two of the scientists who worked in the abandoned power plant."

He continued in this manner, always wary, always meticulously weaving together details. Fye had a sharp memory; he would refer to things that he'd described before, so as to add a touch of realism to it. He was extraordinary. Some were real occurrences, and some were not. I could sense this right away, because he refused to look directly at me as he spoke. When I realized this, my heart began to throb with a foreign emotion.

I felt sad for him, and I pitied myself. I cared about him, then. I didn't want him to experience the hurt that he was feeling. He was such a gentle person, and seeing him suffer... 

He meant something to me. But somehow, he didn't care enough about me to tell the truth. His fear had been too much.

It felt like a slap in the face. 

I was upset, so upset that I only caught bits and pieces of what he told me afterwards. 

He told me that he never knew who his parents were. The scientists in the laboratory gave him a place to stay in the power plant, and in exchange for food and shelter, he allowed them to conduct certain experiments on him using his body. That was how he acquired fish genes inside him, how his legs melted away gradually into a single appendage. He showed me the gills on either side of his long neck, hidden by the thick locks of his hair. He'd said that he was injected with a formula that allowed them to grow.   

When the rebirth occurred, someone knew that the experiment would go awry, but no one listened, and proceeded with it anyway; that person left a note for him, telling him to leave. It was signed Anonymous, but it was probably his father or mother who'd written it. With the note was an anti-aging formula that would maintain his face and the delicacy of his skin, even after years of swimming in the water.

And so he left the mainland, heading for an island far, far away, only days before the Rebirth took place...

-

"Is that all?" I asked when he was finished. 

He stared at me, shock evident in his eyes. His face turned a ghastly color in the pale moonlight, and a shiver ran through him. "What do you mean...?"

"It's okay that you didn't tell me the whole truth about your past," I told him frankly. My voice was tired, and somber, as I shook my head. "I'm not angry at you, Fye. I just...wished you could've had the strength to see your promise through, tonight. That's all."

There was silence for a while. 

Fye shut his eyes. A shimmering tear ran down his cheek, and he hid his face in his hands in shame. Muffled sobs arose from his trembling form, and I immediately felt remorse for what I'd said. 

He'd truly laid his pride aside tonight, and in the end, had nothing to show for it but a final, searing blow to his dignity. He'd given everything he had in his empty attempts. Everything. 

"No, Fye...don't cry! Wait..."

I found myself standing up and, in a last desperate attempt at reconciliation, I reached out towards him. 

But he'd pushed away from the edge of the pool, slunk down into the water. I couldn't reach him. He cried into the water, tremulous streams of bubbles rising from either side of his neck and his soft lips, enveloping him in clouds of white lament. 

I had to try again. The more my mind drifted back to what I'd said to him, the more I realized how useless I must've been...to hurt someone like Fye. I was a fool. 

"Fye! Fye, please! Damn it, at least let me apologize!" 

He refused to rise from the depths. I knew that the conversation was over.

Damn it...! 

But of course he hates me. Of course he hates me. Yelling is no way to prove to anyone that you're worth a shit. You'd treated him as though he was worthless! Kurogane, you insensitive asshole! 

Your attitude, it was never a problem before...! And now look what you'd done. Look what you'd done. 

I'd never hated myself so much. Angrily, I punched the towering windowpane, and then cursed my own stupidity. With a last, despairing look at him, I ran out of the room, blindly dashing across the corridor. Shutting the door of my own bedroom behind me with a bang, I gasped for breath, and closed my eyes. 

Umi, who'd returned from the corridor, was knocking now. I slunk down to the ground, determined to ignore her.   

"Uncle? What happened?" The knocks became more frantic. "Uncle Kurogane! Please, answer me!"

I didn't answer her, just as Fye didn't answer me.

I was crying, too.

-

Umi asked me again the next morning at breakfast what had come over me, why I'd shut her out of the room, why she could distinctively hear the sound of weeping from inside. She also questioned the reason behind Fye's odd behavior; she'd seen him slunk down to the bottom of the pool last night, surrounded by a bubbling fog. I didn't answer her, and she was smart enough not to pry, although her eyes stared at me with concern the entire morning. 

Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.

"I'm going out to do the gardening," I mumbled as I rose up from the table. I'd hardly touched the pancakes she'd gotten up early to make this morning, and knowing how hard she worked on it, I was obliged to smile. It wasn't much. I could hardly manage it. But I wasn't dumb enough to ignore her feelings the way I'd ignored Fye's only a day before. 

She smiled back faintly, and nodded. "Right. I'll water the willow tree today. Did you decide on a name...?"

I racked my mind for the name that Fye had chosen last night. The memory of how bright his smile had been before I'd decided to talk to him haunted me, and caused me to wince. What had he wanted to name Hinoto's child? 

"It was...um...damn it, what was it? Kakyou, I think."

"Kakyou's a lovely name," Umi approved, but she'd noted my expression with a touch of worry. I couldn't take it.

"I'm leaving."

With brisk strides, I'd found myself walking out the kitchen, and into the corridor. I couldn't think...remembering Fye's smile, the image of the specimen had pervaded my entire mind. I couldn't concentrate on reality. And so I kept walking, my eyes unseeing and my mind numb...pointedly passing Fye's room without glancing inside to check on him, as I'd told myself to be accustomed to doing. Gathering up my coat from the rack for the harsh autumn air, and stepping into my working boots, I proceeded to step outside. 

"Uncle?"

"Hm?" 

It was Umi. Still clad in her flowery apron, she'd stood in the corridor. Her eyes were sad. In her hand was the red pail that I'd absent-mindedly left next to the dishwasher. My eyes lit up with recognition...it'd contained my garden gloves and tools. 

"You...um...can't exactly work without these," she whispered. Her eyes were sad, and there was a tinge of grief in her voice. She was a perceptive girl...she must've known already that my momentary depression had something to do with Fye.

Without knowing exactly why, I bounded across the distance between us, and hugged her tightly in my arms. 

"I'm sorry..." was all I could say, over and over.

-

In the garden, there was scarcely any work to be done. Umi had exterminated the weeds and pulled them out by their dead roots. She'd given water and fertilizer to all the flowers, calculating the amount according to the respective climates they were from. She'd pulled off rotten petals and collected shriveled leaves. She'd also taken ladybugs from Gingetsu's storage, and allowed them to get rid of detrimental pests. 

There weren't even any more garden snakes left, and I'd been morbidly looking forward to flushing them out and stomping on them. Umi had rounded them all up and, with disgust, tossed them in a basket, which she'd lidded and put on a shelf so that she could keep an eye on the green, tangled mass with their tens and hundreds of beady eyes. Of course, she'd later transferred these to my room. She never could stand snakes. 

All in all, there was very little for me to do. Finding a spot to sit, I'd watched the enormous sunflowers turn their huge blossoms towards the blazing sun, as I picked up the pebbles that remained on the ground, to toss into the ocean. 

In my mind, I wished the Scavenger crew were here. They'd have taken my mind off of this...maybe even forced me to apologize. They had so much nerve and charisma, and I had none.

I'd received a call from Kazuhiko last night at dinnertime, telling me about what a success the conference had been. They'd gone out celebrating the budget increase that the Scavengers had received from the government, yet again by drinking. In the background, I heard Yuuko making a huge racket, knocking over tables and hollering for gin. Watanuki was yelling at her exasperatedly. Gingetsu was muttering about having to pay the bill. Everyone was a bit tipsy, even Kazuhiko, who was supposed to be the designated driver. 

I think I heard Ran's voice in the din as well, although I can never be sure. Ran has moth genes; as such, he was a very beautiful man, but he was destined to die early. He was constantly aging, and his voice became older and older every month. I could hardly tell...but I think he was there. It was interesting to think that Gingetsu actually listened to my damn advice, for once. Or maybe he wasn't the one who called Ran over. That would've made more sense. Ran always took the initiative while Gingetsu remained a silent pain in the ass.

In any case...Kazuhiko was calling to check on me, and to tell me that they'd be coming the very next day...or tonight, if they were lucky. I told him I wished them all the goddamned luck in the world. Instead of taking it as a joke, though, he became worried about me. There must've been something in my tone that suggested I was crying earlier. It was strange, how he knew...even while drunk.

I'd be glad if I'd snapped him out of his drunkenness enough that he'd have paid attention to the road on the way back. But I didn't want any of the Scavengers to worry. My dilemma was exhausting enough as it was.

I traveled down to the harbor, to take my mind off of Fye. The white, sandy shore was empty of gulls and human beings. There was an ominous silence, as always, save for the sound of the foamy waves lapping back and forth. Soon, I reassured myself, soon Gingetsu and the others would be back. They'd see how badly I'd treated Fye, they'd scold me, and they'd take him away so that I'd never have to come to terms with what I'd –

No. 

I was an asshole. But I won't be cowardly. 

I won't. Besides, I... 

"I want to see him smile again," I said aloud, but barely audibly. It was a ghost of a confession that fluttered from my lip and died the moment it touched the air. With more conviction, I repeated it. "I want to see Fye smile."

It was the truth. I wanted Fye to obtain his happiness...I didn't want to see him suffer. Last night was enough of a mistake to make me realize that. I wanted to make amends for what I'd done. I wanted to keep him by my side for another month. I wanted him to face the truth. 

How, though, did I plan to go about doing any of this? 

He won't listen to me. He didn't listen to me last night, and he didn't try to talk to me today. Not that I'd even given him a chance. I really am an idiot...! This type of idealistic thinking has to stop. I can't manipulate people this way and hope that my insensitivity will wear off with time! I can't! 

Fye hates me right now. He hates me. 

I'm alone again... 

Unthinkingly, I'd immersed myself with the waves once more. My eyes were closed, and suddenly, I'd become a separate entity from the world. I was alone...utterly alone. And all that graced my ears were the sounds of the waves, destined to crash and crash again onto the sand, willed by the gravitating moon. 

And once again, I found myself swaying to the rhythm of the ocean, the way I'd done it the day that I'd first met Fye. I spread my arms wide, as if to embrace the all-consuming sea, and the waves seemed to grind louder, harsher. 

I wanted to drown in that roaring blue, the music of destiny beyond the horizon. I wanted to go there.

Mesmerized, I treaded closer and closer to the borderline...

-

What I hadn't realized then was that the windows in Fye's huge room faced the harbor. The glass clearly mirrored my movements, reenacting them by the second for the merman to see. 

I hadn't counted on the fact that Fye had risen from his trance in the gurgling waters, and swam to the edge of the pool to check on Kakyou just as I'd started swaying to the sea. I hadn't predicted at all that the sight would shake him into awareness and scare him wide-awake...I didn't even know that he would care. 

But had I seen those blue eyes, wide with terror, I would've known.

It was when I'd started walking towards the ocean, my mind empty of hesitation, that Fye had panicked. And what he did next would change both of us forever...

-

The sound of shattering glass snapped me out of my trance. And then, a scream...

"Kurogane!"

My eyes blinked open. I suddenly felt the freezing tide...it had engulfed first my knees, then my waist. It had threatened to eat me alive. I'd almost let it devour me. 

With alarm, I dashed through the shallow stretches, and flung myself to the ground. My breathing was irregular, and my face pale with hysteria.

What...what had just...? 

I'd nearly killed myself.

I lay on the beach like a haggard dog for what seemed an eternity. Then, I looked up, suddenly recognizing the voice of the merciful angel who'd spared me. 

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Fye had crashed through the glass. Two huge metal wings had erupted from either side of his waist, extending from his long tail...they had been sharp enough to slash the windowpane apart. Breathing raggedly like I was, his face was flushed with anxiety and his expression was a horrified one. And so was mine.

Wings...? 

What the hell was going on...? 

Hovering above the ground, he stared down at me, making sure that I was safe. Then, with trembling fingers, he pressed a scale on his abdomen, which I suddenly recognized as a button, and the metallic contraptions folded and refolded, sheathing themselves within his body once more. Without the boost of the wings, he fell to the ground with a jarring crash. 

"Fye!" The cry tore out of my throat. It knocked me back into focus. I had no idea what was going on, but Fye was hurt, and I ran to his side without a moment's delay. 

When I finally got close to him, I knew that he was in terrible pain. He was biting his lip, trying not to scream in pain. His lower body was contorted, and many of his scales had been shattered. There seem to be a mixture of blood and - oil, it seemed - pouring out of the crevices. Nuts and bolts had become dislodged from within him, and there was a long crack running up the length of the now clearly artificial tail.

I knelt down beside him, and squeezed his body tightly in my arms, my eyes wet with tears. He refused to look at me, and whimpering, he struggled to free himself from my arms. 

"Please...please, don't look at me..." he pleaded desperately, covering his face with his hands once more.

"Like hell I wouldn't...!"

I backed away from him, and there was anguish and torment in my eyes. I pried his hands away from his teary eyes, and wiped the wetness from his face. My eyes were blurry with self-hatred. I couldn't forgive myself for being so reckless, letting him get hurt for my sake. 

"Fye...what had happened to you...?" I whispered softly, burying my hands in his soft hair. "Why didn't you tell me...?"

After he'd recovered from his shock, Fye's blue eyes became resolute. He had once again slid into the comfort of his sad, meaningless smile. But h was staring directly at me now, and he spoke without suspicion. I knew for certain, and with a bittersweet satisfaction, that he was telling me the truth. 

"The waves will take you one day, if you're not careful, Kuro-chan," he murmured, chuckling lightly. In the light of the morning sun, he looked like an angel. "I'm so sorry for telling you those lies...I'm so sorry..."

Tears ran down his face, and sparkled in the sunbeams. Reaching out an arm, he pressed a fin on his left side...

-

The metal tail split wide open. 

There was an eruption of steam from the corrugated pipes within, a fizzling of the electric wires. The loose scales fell apart, and pieces of the outer layer shattered altogether. The rubber layer underneath began to melt with this last surge of energy from the secret batteries, the heat released in jets of smoke from the pressure points.

When the clouds finally cleared, my eyes stung, but I could see clearly what it was that Fye wanted to show me. 

Underneath the false tail was a pair of long, slender legs, white from their lack of contact with the sun, and etched with deep gashes and cuts. They were unclad, and were joined by wires to the mass of metal around it. 

Despite their shakiness and constant disuse, Fye began to stand up using them, wobbling and staggering as he did so. He threatened to fall, but I rose as well, and I hefted him up with my arms. He could still stand, it seemed, and though I was scared for him, he began to walk around unsteadily, regaining what humanity was left in him. There was blood dribbling from both trembling legs. 

He was completely nude now, and standing in the light of day. The enigma had all but fade away from him. He was pure, and unafraid of the world. 

I embraced him tightly, and he didn't resist; he clung onto me, sheltered in my sturdy grasp. And we cried together, he and I.

-

I loved him so much. And I didn't even know. 

I did this one on two days. ^-^ Way to go! This probably means, however, that there are grammar mistakes all over the place. But I never double-check my work, in case you haven't already guessed. ^-^;;;

Well, I just had to do this in one burst. The end of this was a major scene! I would've cut this segment off here, too, if it weren't for the fact that it'd look weird in comparison to all the two-chapter segments. So the next one might look a bit disjointed. -;; I hope not!


	12. Seafoam and Fireshine: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Author's Notes:_

(Continued from before) The Scavenger crew, I decided at this point, was in need of some more comic reinforcement, in the trend of poor Watanuki-chan. Therefore, I added Kazahaya from Gouhou Drug. And Hideki. No one can ever forget Hideki. In the trend of CLAMP's new generation of teenage losers, Hideki is heading the stampede! ^-^;; Then, of course, I figured that, since Kazahaya is normally cheerful without Rikuou, I would make him all the more miserable by adding him in, as well. -;; And of course, to give the innocence factor a bit of a kick, I decided to finish it off with Kohaku-chan, of Wish.

Kazahaya is hilarious. Just...he's insanely funny when provoked. He is the testimonial of CLAMP's understanding of physical humor. Yes, it is true that sometimes CLAMP does take the gags a bit too far...(the cross dressing episode was a really obvious example)...but our traumatized Kazahaya always manages to make it work. He really is quite energetic. ^-^;; And so cute, too! He's a very boyish bishounen. I had never mistaken him for a girl, especially in the book, wherein he slouched and swore and didn't act anything like one. What gets me about Kazahaya the most is how kittenish he looks...those eyes are absolutely beautiful! And CLAMP was utilizing their good sense when they designed him to have chibi cat ears when he's angry. Just darling. He's definitely on the Pufferfish for comedy relief...not that he isn't good for other things. ^-^ 

And you can't have Kazahaya without Rikuou, just like I couldn't have Kurogane without Fye-chan. ^-^ It's common sense to get them together. Rikuou is a very masculine guy. ^-^;; I quite like his looks. Very tough and powerful (the anti-Kazahaya, if that makes any sense)...he's there to keep our koneko in check. Sometimes, I do wish he wouldn't smirk so evilly, but that's one of the things that make him and Kazahaya different than most other shounen-ai couples; he's not there to listen to the poor guy's problems. He's there to laugh at him and kick his ass. Then save it, when the storyline calls for heroics. He is sarcastic, and he's dreadful to his counterpart, but something tells me that this is what causes their story to be so seductive. So hang in there, Kazahaya! -;; Rikuou is not unlike Kurogane, and that's part of the reason why he's here, too. The two relationships may become parallel yet!

Hideki...I don't think I'll ever write another CLAMP fic without Hideki again. ^-^;; He's such a sweetie! He's so dim-witted sometimes, but he always tries so hard to put two and two together that it's very difficult not to love him. He's a very noble person, with his rural sensibilities. Hideki always seems to be friendly and amiable, and he cares so much about everyone! He is, of course, unintentionally funny...just because he's so down-to-earth and normal (Um...let's forget that he talks to himself for now, okey dokey? -;;) He is incredibly honest and trustworthy...if you leave a task to him, he may not be able to get it done, but he'll break his back trying, poor kid! And he loves Chii. Lord knows he really, really loves Chii. ^-^ Good for him!

And last but not least, I did include Kohaku. I've never actually written a fic and described a Wish character in it, I don't think (although it can be said that I put cameos here and there...). Kohaku is my very first, and I plan to do as well as I can! Since he's also birdlike, I can't help but make him Suu's male counterpart (even though, technically, she already has one...), although the two aren't really alike at all. Suu is quiet and wary, a very sad character, and Kohaku is cheerful and genial. He is a bit clumsy, but his actions are defensible; he messes up so much because he has a big heart...with so many good intentions, he can't help but go overboard sometimes. ^-^;; He doesn't really understand the world well, but he is constantly learning, and always polite...you can't go wrong! He's so innocent, and loves every living thing; his gentle demeanor reflects every bit the intense bond he has with nature. He's very beautiful. ^-^ Shuuichirou did get the better end of the deal, didn't he? Swapping a crow away and ending up with such a lovely youth as an eternal companion...if only we should all be so lucky! ^-^;;

Chapter 5: SEAFOAM AND FIRESHINE 

_ Also known as_

_"A Glimpse of the Truth"_

_Part 2_

You can imagine the look on Umi's face when she saw Fye on two legs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Oh God, oh God..." Strained wheezing. "Holy crap...damn it, Kurogane!" Crash.

Er...actually, you can't, can you?

Nope. 

"You asshole! You sick – demented – inconsiderate – "(This is accompanied by a pelting of random kitchen objects.)

"Umi! Would you get a grip and just listen to – " 

Clang. Sweet success. 

Umi gasped, and clasped her hands over her mouth. "Eep! Oh, no. Uncle, your head is..."

"Bleeding. Yeah...yeah, I kind of noticed," I muttered, hissing from the gash left by the inadvertently accurate sauce pan. Clasping a hand to my forehead, I mumbled incoherent curses as I allowed Fye to lower me into a chair. "Stupid...you bitch, you. I should've known you improved your aim tenfold since the second grade..."

"I am so, so sorry!" Umi blurted, still eyeing Fye with significant horror. "B-B-But – "

"I know."

"S-Still, he's...!"

"I _know_."

Hastily, she flung a dishcloth at Fye, and scrambled upstairs to collect herself. Thankfully, this didn't seem to offend him any. Rather, it embarrassed him. 

"I think..." He whispered with a blush, "...that I should find some pants."

Miiiiigraaaaane aleeeeert...

"Yeah. Yeah, you...you do that." I waved him off with a grunt. "Hamper's in the other room. When Umi manages to gather her composure, which could take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour...have her help you wash the blood off."

Fye nodded. Realizing what I'd just said, I raised an eyebrow, and turned towards him, stunned.

His legs were still dripping blood...many of the metal shards had cut into his flesh as he fell. There was a huge cut on his right thigh, where – I winced as I figured out the reason for this – his sharp right fin had pressed into him inwardly, cutting through rubber, iron, and flesh. He'd collapsed onto the ground on that side. The flow of red would not cease from the larger bruises and slashes, even though the multitude of smaller scrapes had already begun to seal and repair. 

And still Fye smiled. I cursed myself for not seeing his pain sooner. His face would not betray his wounds, not for a second. He was terribly good at that.  

"Fye...!" I hoisted myself out of the seat, with considerable effort. My head was still victim to a disruptive vertigo as I stood up. "You have to tell me when you're this badly hurt. I drift off sometimes. You've seen me do it twice now. I don't notice the things that I'm supposed to. You have to say something to me!"

Fye frowned worriedly, but still tried to maintain his cheerful disposition. Idiot. "Kuro-pi, it's all right. I can wait. And you can't stand up so quickly, or..."

"The problem right now is far from being mine, and you know it," I told him firmly, and that ended the conversation. I couldn't afford to banter with him. "Enough of your irritating nicknames and stupid expressions. You're injured. And there's gravel and sand in your wounds, in case you haven't noticed. It's going to hurt, but they'll have to be cleaned right away. We can't afford for Umi to snap out of her traumatic fit. Bathroom. Upstairs. Now."

"But..."

"You might be able to live with scars and infections, but I won't. It's painful for me to look at you. I care about you, and you know it. When you're in pain, who do you think feels it the most?" 

I paused, quite stunned at my own aggressiveness. Meanwhile, Fye had adopted a rather bewildered look on his face. I probably didn't figure it out for years to come, but he was genuinely touched. His lips were parted with a silent gasp, and his eyes were glistening with hidden tears. It was as though, if he were given free will, he would've leaped forward, and embraced me with a passion that I knew he refused to let surface for years of lonely turmoil in the stretches of sea...

-

I didn't really notice it. If I had taken note of it, I wouldn't have understood it. So I simply dismissed it. 

But now that I think of it, he must've loved me then.  

-

"Do this one thing for me. I know. I'm a demanding bastard. You've done a lot for me already. But this is for your own damn benefit, Fye," I tried to persuade him. There was a prominent tinge of desperation in my voice, that I'd let slip without knowing what I was trying to do.

That convinced him.

"All right, Kurogane." He nodded, closing his eyes. Secretly, he was grateful, so grateful that his heart was overcome by this solitary emotion. I could see it in the way he beamed at me, wiping his eyes as though it were more than tears he was discarding. "Meet me upstairs, then."

-

Eventually, I found myself with a towel and first aid kit in hand, as Fye lay down on the cold surface of the empty bathtub. The blood filtered out of his torn skin and into the drain, and he shuddered from the chill of the room, but smiled reassuringly at me nonetheless. It wasn't too convincing. Obviously, either the actual hurt had started to kick in, or I was slowly becoming immune to his act. God, I hoped it was the latter. 

Cleaning his wounds proved to be no mean feat. 

It wasn't that I had a problem being at close proximity to his gleaming body. I'd already dealt with that. And it certainly wasn't because I was no good at menial tasks like these. Who the hell do you think had to change baby Umi's diapers when she was little, and spoon fed her applesauce? Who the hell did you think Gingetsu suckered into doing his laundry for him on the ship? Damn it, I was more than capable enough to become a housewife for the rest of my life. 

No, it was none of those things. It was the damn alcohol that took all the intimacy away from the moment.  

I wasn't squeamish when it came to blood, but when I tried to remove the specks of gravel from Fye's wounds, he'd hiss and bite down on his lip. And when I applied the alcohol, he would whimper involuntarily and squirm every which way. The blood was still bubbling out from his thigh, and sometimes, the sting was so agonizing that he curled up into a ball and shut his eyes tightly, tears oozing through his long, feathery eyelashes. 

It was a hell of a lot for a guy to handle, and I could only watch awkwardly as he suffered, gritting his teeth to keep from crying openly. The lack of conversation didn't help. Clearing my throat, I gave a pathetic attempt to phrase my thoughts.

"Fye...you can't keep doing this," I muttered, looking away as he rocked himself back and forth miserably.

Briefly, he glanced up at me. His eyes were bloodshot, and glistening with tears. "No. You don't have to worry about me. It's all right." He grinned weakly. "It's really not as bad as it looks..."

Like hell it wasn't. 

"Look, it's okay if it is painful!" I burst out angrily. "Why are you so afraid of crying? I don't give a shit if you do! I cry a lot myself, and no one gives a damn! So would you stop it?"

He quickly looked away. "But..."

"It's more aggravating for me to look at you now, with all your emotions pent up, than it is for me to accept you when you aren't barred by these goddamned restrictions! Please...would you just try?" I pleaded. Unknowingly, I'd taken his delicate hand in mine, giving it a tight squeeze. "I won't laugh. I won't abandon you. Don't you think I know how badly alcohol stings? 

"I remember when I scraped my knee all shades of purple when I was younger, climbing rocks with my painting utensils and a huge canvas strapped to my back, just so I could paint from observation outdoors like the Impressionists did. Those old bastards never had their paintbrushes fall down a damn ravine. I skinned my knee when I fell trying to retrieve them from the river. It was bleeding, kind of like your thigh. It hurt like hell. But what hurt worse was the alcohol wipe." 

I grinned nostalgically. "Never had one applied to me before. And Mom kept applying it the wrong way, so I ended up getting more than I deserved. That crazy shit burned up my wound, and I couldn't walk around for days. Never quite got over the initial shock. And the wound didn't even heal properly, because there was sand in it. Left me with a huge scar across my kneecap, and it hurt for months on end. That's how bad it was for me. And I cried like a baby." I nodded, satisfied that I'd made my point. "So I wouldn't begin to talk about your wounds. Trust me."  

Fye turned back to me now, with his teary blue eyes. He wiped them with a quiet sniffle, and gazed at me gratefully. I felt better immediately, knowing that I could at least do something to improve his mood. I wasn't completely useless. "Thanks for telling me that. But that didn't actually happen to you, did it? You just said it to make me feel better..."

"Did not!" I scoffed. "I don't care about you enough to make it up. Do you think I'd lie to you?"

He laughed teasingly. "Then where's your scar?"

Placing the towel on the ledge, I pulled up my left pant leg without hesitation. There, unaffected by age, was a series of ugly, jagged slashes, scrawled directly on the knee. Fye gasped in surprise, covering his mouth, and I laughed at his reaction. 

"Didn't think I was serious?" I challenged, amused at how easy it was to get the upper hand this once. "Well, being the demented little asshole I was, I ended up climbing those hills over and over nearly every week, just to prove that I could. I was a stubborn kid. The incident repeated itself several times, but it became less and less over the years. Soon, I found I could climb a great deal every day; I'd painted nearly every tree on those hills at least once. And that...is why my physique is infinitely better than Umi's."

"Did you ever get used to the alcohol, then?" Fye queried, deep in thought. He seemed to be thinking the same thing I was, a rare occurrence.

"Never."

"So...supposing you were to apply a wipe to that gash on your forehead..."

"I'd wail like a baby."

"Even though I – "

"Even though you're right here beside me."

I was being purely straightforward. Which piqued Fye's curiosity. With nimble hands, he picked up one of the packages of alcohol wipes, ripped open the yellow paper, and – with deliberate slowness – applied it to my head. 

Even though I looked firm, I was petrified, and had he looked into my eyes, they would've betrayed that fear in its absolute form. At first, there was no reaction, just a moist sting. Quietly, with an unsteady voice, I counted to three. That's about how long it takes for the effects to kick in.

What came next, as I learned later, made Umi crash into the wall as she practiced the arabesque on her bed.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHA - OWWWWWWW!!!" 

-

It didn't help to realize later that, at that particular moment in time, my pesky blue-haired niece was still traumatized from seeing me hoist Fye into the kitchen from outside, limping and dripping blood. In order to alleviate the shock, she had tried to practice ballet, which was quite soothing in her opinion. 

Damn. 

Well, I didn't know shit about ballet, but collapsing on an arabesque sort of defeated the purpose, no?

Poor Umi was probably scarred for life. And yes, I totally sounded like a herniated cat. But at least it made Fye laugh. And did he ever laugh...!

"Damn it! It's not that funny!" I screeched, holding a paper towel to my head as tears of mirth rolled down his face. Already, Fye had made several attempts to cease his streams of raucous giggling, but to no avail. Obviously. He was rolling around in the bathtub; it was that insanely loud. "Fye! You are just asking for a foot up your a – pfft!"

Fye's laughter was infectious. 

No, I had no idea why the hell I was laughing. My forehead was still burning red. Actually, my whole face was burning red. Just goes to show that there is no worse influence than a giggly blonde. 

We laughed and laughed for ages. We knocked over conditioner bottles and liquid soap onto the floor, which began to mix into a sinister concoction when Fye sprayed me mercilessly with bath water. Soon, bright, dense clouds of bubbles surrounded us. It was like a huge, blooming hallucination.

Then Umi with her broken nose stormed through the house, found us goofing off in the washroom in the midst of a pink, soapy confection – a very non-masculine thing to be caught doing – and kicked me out into the hallway while she dealt with the wounds herself. Fye was still bleeding, by the way. Satire of satires.

-

Some hours later, during which I took a couple of migrane pills for my own safety, Fye limped out of the washroom. He was clad in an overlarge jersey and weatherworn jeans, neither of which I recognized (God, I hope those weren't Gingetsu's...or Ran's...), and Umi was by his side, an arm around him, helping him walk. Stained bandages were dangling out of his pant legs in a disoriented mess. The alcohol must've really gotten to him, because there were streaks of red all across his face.

Rising from the kitchen floor, I reached out my arms to accept him as Umi disentangled herself from him gently. Fye clutched onto me shakily, his body cold against mine; I towered above him, and could only see the top of his head. His hair smelled of an assortment of different hair care products. The soap bubbles must've swarmed around his head.

Umi tossed her hair with distain, and sniffed uncomfortably. There were CLAMP Campus bandages across the entirety of her nose (okay...definitely Ran's...).

"I don't know what the hell this is, Uncle Kurogane," She muttered, apparently vexed that she wasn't in on whatever secrets Fye and I shared, and was not on top of the situation like she usually was, "And I don't know why it's happening to me. But the rest of your Scavengers won't be returning until tomorrow morning – late tonight at the earliest – and I guess I'll just have to cope."

Umi heaved a sigh, and wiped her forehead.

"Still, I suppose it could've been worse. Fye could've been seriously hurt, and so could you." she mumbled, downcast. "The truth is, I don't really want an explanation right away. I think you guys wouldn't be able to explain yourselves anyway, and then you'd have to lie. Right?" She glared at us balefully. 

We both nodded, a bit guiltily. I really should've been concocting an explanation while Fye's wounds were being addressed. But what would that have done? 

The truth was, although she was a bitch to deal with sometimes, neither of us had wanted to make Umi worry. She meant well. And in this instance, who knew what kinds of ideas she'd hatched about what occurred? She was seriously concerned, and we couldn't even begin to explain it to her. 

She folded her arms, pursing her lips. "I don't like being lied to. I don't think anyone does. And I know both of you were planning to lie to me. But that's all right...this situation...there's a silver lining to it. Yes, even this."

Fye blinked. "Umi?"

"I don't suppose you were completely oblivious to Uncle's moping about the house?" Umi challenged. "Even you couldn't be. You're smarter than you look. You knew that you'd made him upset."

Beside me, he nodded quietly, and didn't look at me. But even though I couldn't see his eyes, it was obvious that he felt uncomfortable, having to answer this. 

"Umi, he's been through a lot," I warned her, but there was no edge to my voice. I knew that I deserved a certain amount of blame as well. "Please, go easy on him."

At this, her eyes flared up with anger. "You're guilty, too...! You should've told him. You should've said what it was that you wanted to say. If you'd apologized, I get the feeling that none of this would have happened. You're really too weak, Uncle! Now do you understand? If you'd just told him you were sorry earlier, he would've been elated to know that you still cared!"

I bowed my head. "Umi...I know."

The anger slowly dissipated. Umi breathed a deep sigh, and shook her head. It seemed to me, suddenly, that she'd become weary, her will to continue shouting gone. She'd become deflated, a sad little figure. Wringing her hands with worry, she gazed at the both of us with a terrible anguish.

"This isn't right. I should be glad. I should be glad, because both of you are okay right now. But I keep asking myself: what's going to happen to you tomorrow...? What's going to become of you two, if I'm not around? You're like children, ignorant children...incapable of coming to terms with each other, and constantly running away...! And it would be fine, if you two were ordinary people, but you aren't! There's something very strange about you both that I can't seem to perceive..." she shuddered, "...and I keep thinking, that...if I take my eyes off you guys for a second...something's going to happen. I know it is, because you're my blood relative, Uncle. And you care about him so much...!"

Tears ran down her face. Her speech became broken and incoherent. "And y-you know that Fye's a m-mystery...we don't...we know nothing about...even to himself, he's just..." 

She covered her face with her hands.

"Umi..." I murmured tentatively, edging closer to her. Unsure of how to comfort her, I put my arms around her, and Fye followed suit. She shivered in our arms, and sobbed uncontrollably. 

We never wanted to make her this sad... 

She was never angry with us. But she was terrified for me. She doesn't know anything about Fye, and she doesn't hate him, but she doesn't trust him. She knows that he doesn't even trust himself...

I glanced at Fye. In his eyes was a silent fury; I could tell without words that he was condemning himself, for having hurt my niece this way. But it wasn't his fault, and while I couldn't say it, the message was clearly in my eyes. I hoped he saw it. It wasn't his fault...it was no one's fault. 

What Umi said was right. There's a deeper scandal hidden in your past, Fye. You can't help being a part of it, and neither can I. 

I hope you can tell me one day. 

-

Umi was many things. She was rude sometimes, considerate other times. She was often brash, and rarely calm. She was a raging cyclone of teenage hormones, which I'd been rightly scared to keep in Gingetsu's mansion for two days. But she had never been, nor will she ever be, a coward. When she finally recovered from her crying, she smiled bravely at me, and told me she was going to be okay. 

It was a smile with conviction. I tried my very best to believe it. 

Without knowing it, the afternoon had passed into the evening. The world was gravitating without the three of us, apparently. And it was roughly one thirty in the morning by the time I awoke.

"HEY! Kurogane!"

Accompanying this hollering was the steam whistle of the Pufferfish Liner. 

Hell on earth...! I thought, quite appropriately, as I flung my bed sheets to the side and quickly pulled on some clothes, nearly pulling a muscle in the process. Dashing across the hall, I roused Fye, who slept much more soundly than I did in the other guest room. In her flimsy nightgown and woolen socks, Umi was already descending the stairs, rubbing her eyes. 

"What the heck is that?" She mumbled moodily as I lunged for my jacket. "Are the Scavengers here already? Honestly...they can't be more considerate to the few and the sober?"

"Yeah, well, their timing's a real bitch," I muttered, kicking the doors open. 

Sure enough, the liner was on the shore, yet again in a brand new position. A light was coming from the direction of a certain someone's navigating booth, a light that cleverly illuminated the steam clouds that erupted from the engine. There was an ominous crackling sound, as the members of the crew dashed back and forth on the main deck, shouting orders randomly.

"HIDEKI! You asshole! You undergrad asshole!" I screamed into the wind, hobbling to the harbor like a madman. I'd accidentally put my right shoe on my left foot. "The damn system is on fire again!"

"We kind of noticed!" Kazuhiko shot back irritably, as he flapped a thick woolen blanket over the embers. It was - of course - mine. "The kid isn't even finished paying his tuition, and now he's going to have to cough up the money for these repairs – KOHAKU! Not on me! You spray the water on the fire! The fire!"

"I'm sorry!" cried Kohaku – literally – as Kazuhiko sputtered, ringing out his shirt. Putting out fires was one of the many things our silly blond couldn't get right. 

Thankfully, that wasn't a problem. Everyone was spilling seawater onto the mess, with varying degrees of success. Lots of them were tripping over each other (coughSUUcoughDAMNLONGDRESScough), and Yuuko, who should've been a lot of help, was spanking poor Hideki simultaneously with her eight arms. Particularly noticeable was Watanuki, who was clamoring left and right, blindly slinging buckets into the fire and screeching like a banshee. 

Oddly enough, it all appeared to be working. Somehow. 

As I finally arrived at the wooden dock, panting severely, Gingetsu (as you might expect, not a hair out of place) calmly leaned over the edge of the boat to greet me amidst the chaos.

"Glad to have you back."

"Don't think...that I'm the least...bit glad...to be back..." I replied haggardly.

"Put your shoes on the right way, and we'll talk some more."

"Way...ahead of you." I was already on the ground. My ankles were being slaughtered.

There was a brief pause, as our fearless leader allowed the sound of Kazahaya's screams to echo across the entire island. Rikuou had purposely put his long tail in the fire. Then, he continued.  

"Anything interesting happen in my absence?"

By this time, I'd already caught my breath, and was no longer answering randomly just off the top of my head. I was seriously considering whether or not I ought to have told him about Fye's sudden transformation, just to get a reaction out of his stoic ass.

Then I figured I'd wait for the others to stop hyperventilating. At least I knew that someone in the group was bound to be appreciative. If I just told Gingetsu, he the unfazed would probably kick my balls. Not fun.

"We got you a new willow plant named Kakyou," I suggested, shrugging.

-

Eventually, everyone managed to put out the fire. Aside from Hideki's sore buttocks (later suffering the unanimous kicks of the entire crew), Kazahaya's charbroiled tail, and Kazuhiko's ego, there were no severe casualties. Unfortunately for us, the main engine of the Pufferfish, as expected, was fried. 

"Guess you guys will have to stay here in the mansion," was Gingetsu's grim assessment, which was greeted by a loud burst of cheering and exclamations of "free food!". 

"But you'll have to pay rent," he added, to which there replied many a swear word. Kazahaya even threatened to camp outside, until Rikuou reminded him that Gingetsu owned the entire island. 

(Funny thing about Kazahaya...he was partially feline, but he could still stay so close to water without being too perturbed. That sort of confirmed my suspicions, about him and Rikuou being an item. Heh.)

Everyone crowded into the mansion; during this time, Kazuhiko filled me in on what they'd done for the last couple of days. Aside from the conference, there wasn't much else. They'd found a sparrow specimen living off the coast of Tudor Isle, a very psychotic little girl who'd been dubbed Miyuki-chan by many of the women living on the island. They'd been unable to reform this one.

"She was a cute one. But for some reason, she was really, really scared of Suu," Kazuhiko told me, shrugging confusedly. "From the medical report Gingetsu drew up, she seemed to have a morbid fear of all women."

"Then what about Yuuko? Wouldn't she be scared of Yuuko?" I asked.

"I said women, Kurogane," he smirked wryly, "Not gelatinous sea monsters."

"Who's a sea monster?" A sneaky tentacle wrapped itself around Kazuhiko's unsuspecting jugular. 

"Ack!"

"For the most part, Kurogane, nothing particularly enlightening from our part," Yuuko droned, a menacing grin spreading on her face as Kazuhiko's face turned yet undiscovered shades of purple. "What about on your end? Who's the blue-haired pretty in the corner?" She gestured to Umi, who was currently huddling in one corner of the hall in fear; I'd been around them for a long time, but I guessed the Scavenger crew – mostly Yuuko's octopus limbs, though - might still have been an intimidating sight for young girls. 

Scratching my head guiltily, I nodded in reluctant acknowledgement. "Yeah, yeah...see, I kind of have a few things to explain." I clapped loudly, drawing attention from the rest of the chattering crew. "Hey! Everyone listen for a second!"

"What did you do now, Kurogane?" Kazuhiko asked suspiciously. He still hadn't forgotten about my phone call from the other night. 

I glowered at him. "Shut up. Don't judge until you've heard, you presumptuous little bastard. First and foremost, everyone, as you may or may not have noticed, there's a young girl hiding in the corner. That would be my niece, Ryuuzaki Umi."

"Hello," Kohaku smiled and waved as politely as ever. Umi managed an uneasy grin at him. It was very difficult not to be nice to Kohaku, angelic as he was. He was one of the few of us who looked remotely civil. 

"Guys?" I raised my voice. Several of them had already dropped their jaws. "Following Kohaku's suit now would be good."

"That's _your_ niece, Kurogane?" Rikuou was completely taken aback. "But you're hideous!"

Kazahaya was quick to elbow him one. "Way to be blunt, you bastard!"

"I'm going to pretend," I uttered through gritted teeth in Rikuou's direction, a vein popping out of my neck, "that I didn't hear that. Umi was kind enough to come here to cook and clean and look after my mess. She's a blood relative of mine, which means that she has my temper tenfold. Now that she has an even larger laundry load to take care of, I suggest you all be extra nice, for fear of either her and/or myself kicking your sorry ass. Is everyone clear on this?"

I got a few tentative nods. Evidently, fear has been struck.

"That's good." I sighed. This next one would be the more difficult, that was for sure. "Now that that's over with, I'd like to go over another point. Fye?"

There was a long moment of silence. I waited.

"Um...he can't exactly come to you," Hideki pointed out. "He's a fish...GAAAAAH!!"

Fye had stepped into the foyer, striding on his long legs. He was hugging himself with his arms; his face was pale with the cold, and he exhaling clouds of steam. His eyes were shimmering bright from the glow of the stars, and his cheeks were pink with embarrassment. 

He was a breathtakingly stunning creature. 

"Hello, everyone," he said quietly, although for the others, it was startlingly loud. "I'm sorry for deceiving you all."

The Scavengers were utterly shocked. Suu's eyes were intensely wide with wonder. Kazahaya looked mortified, clutching tightly onto Rikuou's arm. Kazuhiko was simply bewildered, and stared at me for an explanation, which he didn't receive. Even Gingetsu staggered in surprise. 

 The only one who looked remotely calm was Yuuko...she was smiling serenely, her yellow eyes aglow with a keen interest. I wondered if she didn't suspect this from the beginning...?

"Everyone...Fye is human. More so than we'd ever realized," I whispered, staring into his eyes as he stepped forward, and I took his hand in mine...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnd...fade to black.

Awesome! Now, I've got to work on my project for French class! See ya!


	13. A Dimly Shimmering Moment: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

Guess who's coming back into the story? Guess, guess! Yep, none other than our hyperactive Arisugawa Sorata, and possibly the lovely Kishuu Arashi! ^-^ Yay! But since Kurogane is busy enough as is, he won't be doing anything other than phone calls for this chapter. ^-^;; 

But believe me, it's all for the best. I have done quite a lot of experimentation with having numerous side characters running around all over the place before in a fic (I love having a lot of characters, and I always create more and more), and I can't say that the results, while acceptable, were very easy to conjure. When you've got 30+ characters scrambling about in some half dozen locations, most of them non-canonical, you've got a bit of a hectic story. I had trouble keeping them straight, and they were of my own creation! That's how bad it was. Thankfully, there's only nine (Nine?) Scavengers in this story, plus Kurogane, plus Fye, plus Umi, and Sorata's family so far. There was also Hinoto, and now Kakyou. Soon, there will be others. 

Yes, it is actually a bit excessive as is. But it's a huge improvement over my usual fics. I have written stories wherein I'd created more than twenty of my own characters, and the cast itself was already 20+ characters. It was like trying to organize a stampede. You just can't do it. ^-^;;; Those previous fics turned out well because they had an excuse...they were epics, every single one. This fic does not have such an excuse. It's supposed to be intimate. So bear with me. -;;

Oh, and just so you know, Kakyou-chan's not dead. I did not go through the trouble of writing a huge prologue on his mother's behalf just so that he could lazy around in a pot. His purpose in the story starts to be revealed in this very segment, and in a way, it doesn't really have to do with him, but soon, he will find himself fully engaged in the storyline. I just don't know how soon. ^-^;; I am a spontaneous little dude. -;;; (Eep.)

On a random note, were you surprised at getting a relatively mellow pseudo-reaction from the Scavengers, when Fye entered at the end of the last chapter? I skipped that on purpose. I was never very good at writing surprises. Generally, they tend to be exaggerated and awkward segments that readers, as well as writers, skim over uncomfortably (the more exaggerated they are, the more likely this is), and frankly, I've run out of unique ways to say "WTF happened?" The delivery of surprise must match the strength of the surprise itself, otherwise people wound cease to take it seriously; the most effective method of instilling power into prose is to make it surprisingly impressive, and – and I...just...can't...do it! Waaaaaaah! -;; 

While I go off to collect myself, I would expect you to read the story. Ciao! ^-^

Chapter 6: A DIMLY SHIMMERING MOMENT 

_ Also known as_

_"Eleven's a crowd..."_

_Part 1_

The guys took the news fairly well. 

Considering.

"I still can't believe that we didn't see it!" Kazahaya muttered, heaving the heavy metal tail off the ground with my help. "It should've been so obvious! I mean, it's not as though things like this haven't happened before..."

"Actually, they've never happened before," I told him wryly. "Gingetsu told me it never occurred before, and you know he'd never pretend to know something he didn't. He'd just get pissed off with himself and go read in a corner. When you think about it, it isn't really surprising, Fye being the first. Most real specimens go through hell, trying to reunite themselves with nature, and then they get it tenfold when they come back to civilization. No one has ever purposely impersonated one of them before. They're either specimens, or they're not. A person would never put themselves through this sort of trouble unless they absolutely wanted to."

"Then what's wrong with the person we've fished out?" He quipped.

"Nothing's wrong with him." I was quick to defend Fye's sanity. "And don't you dare drop the other end...are you even supporting the weight any? Come on, through the frame..."

For the longest time, Fye's tail had been bathing in its own stench outside. We'd started to notice it a few days ago, but no one did anything about it. None of us wanted to touch it, and in a way, it was an omen for me, dangerous in my eyes because it represented everything I could possibly know about Fye's secrets, and everything I didn't want to find out. Everyone else thought slightly less of it, but for me, it was temptation. The wings that sprouted from the machine, the hidden crevices, the buttons and blades...

I wanted to find out what the filthy pile of wreckage meant to Fye, why he'd donned it, what drove him to become a merman. It would've been too simple to dissect the machine, though. I wanted to hear it from him. I trusted him too much. And so I avoided the thing. All the while, it presented itself to me as a beautiful yet treacherous opportunity. Sometimes, I felt drawn to it. I was bound to. But I refused to let it poison my mind, much less my heart. So I avoided it.

Everyone else avoided it, too...for different reasons. It stunk like a shitting skunk. 

The oil that was seeping from it and into the soil was starting to contaminate Gingetsu's magnolias. Not that I cared, but my paycheck was still in his hands, and so was Kazahaya's. So we were forced to move the stinking hulk of metal. And I had to confront the possibility of betraying Fye, finding everything I needed to know before he could stop me.

That was no different than what a rapist does to little girls, I decided. I had more dignity than that, and so does Fye. Even if Yuuko and Watanuki put their heads together and come up with a revealing assessment about it, I would not accept it until I hear the words from Fye himself.  

Kazahaya and I had hefted the tail onto a clean cloth first (another bed spread from off the ship, to my chagrin, and you can pretty much assume whose it is), piling all the broken metal trinkets onto one spot where we could lift it easily. Our faces grimaced from the stench during the entirety of this operation, and we practiced mouth breathing. Then, after loading it up, we lifted the cloth on both ends, with hands still dirtied from the caked blood and greasy from the oil. 

Speaking of greasy hands...

"OW! Son of a bitch – "

"Kurogane! God, I told you to wipe your hands on the sides. The cloth slipped out from your fingers didn't it? I knew it...I knew this would happen. You okay?"

With a throbbing foot on my end, we finished the job. Yeah, I took Kazahaya's damned advice and wiped my hands. 

We towed the tail into Fye's huge room, with the swimming pool, via the window that was broken earlier. The smashed shards had been removed, and Rikuou and  

Fye no longer swims around in the huge room, but he often lounged around there, where he was free to think without interruption. He was there now. 

It was strange to think that he would take to loneliness so well when there were people around for him to talk to...I'd always thought he was strangely amiable and conversational, when he should've been reserved and panicky, considering how long he must've lived alone. Most specimens acted paranoid around us civilized people. But he acted civilized around civilized people. And you can't get that effect from talking to your own shadow all day. 

I knew that he must've conversed with real people, to be so friendly...so human. It made me wonder whether he'd lived alone for that long at all.

Where did he come from? Was it a place with people? It must've been. But if that was the case, then why didn't the other Scavengers know? They said that they picked him up on the shore of a dormant volcano, jutting out of the waters. Kazuhiko said so. 

But did he really live there? Did he really swim through those waters?

He smiled at me, as we came in, and Kazahaya grinned back. Conversationally, he commented on the smell of the tail, which Fye could easily detect from where he stood...all the same, it lightened the mood, made it casual and friendly. What else was small talk good for? 

But I couldn't say anything. I regarded his lovely face with an expression of wonder, of thought. I was entranced, and I was scared. How much did I actually know about this creature, from the uncharted expanses of ocean I cannot fathom, cannot even dream about? I wanted to know him. I wanted him to tell me everything I'd ever longed to know about him, even though I knew he couldn't possibly... 

What was he, really?

He's standing there, and he's smiling. But his mind...his mind might be wandering to his home. Where was his home? 

I trust him. I trust him more than I'd ever trusted anything before, I swear. 

And yet I feel this...uncertainty. 

Damn it, why am I even this worried at all? Why should I worry so much about him? What is he to me? 

-

Note that at this point, I really wasn't paying attention to the metal tail at all.

"OW!! Holy shit!"

Kazahaya groaned exasperatedly. "Kurogane...not again!"

-

By this point in time, the Scavengers have infiltrated Gingetsu's home – and life – for about a week.

And we have left our mark. Hideki had strewn his posters of bikini-clad girls all across his particular living space, and Yuuko, always a prankster, had decided to post them up everywhere. Pieces and shreds of the two birds' feathers were coming apart all over the halls, particularly Suu's silk dresses, of which Kazuhiko appears to have an infinite number, damn him. They were extremely slippery, and have recently become a hazard to our health, when Watanuki stepped on one and crushed Yuuko's black Mokona doll...she was damn pissed off at him. The fact that he nearly broke his elbow was a moot point. 

As we all knew, Rikuou loved chocolate. This did not justify how much chocolate we had stored in the Pufferfish Liner, however, and how much we had to move from the harbor to the mansion. It was criminal. There were wrappers scattered across the kitchen room floor and all over the statues (the duplicate of Venus in the bathroom had somehow gained wrapper cups on her chest), melted chocolate smeared on the walls, and boxes lying on the staircase. 

Added to the bits and pieces of silk already on the staircase, and you've got a very frightened Umi who has to climb down despite the risk of slipperage everyday to cook us breakfast, bless her heart. It was kind of scary. 

Gingetsu has yet to gain any new wrinkles, Kazahaya notes, so the mess should be okay. But he was pissed. No doubt he was pissed. I think it's pretty clear that we were going to be eight very disgruntled Scavengers with no holiday paychecks.

Autumn had given way to winter, and the cold weather had dampened our spirits, somewhat. It has also caused trouble with the repairs for the Pufferfish Liner. We were told that no one was going to come and fix the engine (quickly frosting over on the harbour) for the remainder of the month. There was a huge blizzard in the mainland, apparently, and on that distressing note: a certain someone has found his long-awaited excuse to call me back. 

Damn them for fixing the phone lines first.

-

"Six feet of snow. Really? So early? No, the weather's fine here, Sorata." I told him unenthusiastically over the phone, all the while rubbing my smarting feet. The metal tail has successfully managed to assail both my big toes. There was also a splinter down the toenail. Vicious little bugger. But it wasn't the only one. "We haven't had any snow all week." 

The weather really was mild, all things considered. I'd actually hoped for a blizzard. It might've helped convince Yuuko to work a bit faster on that stupid window...the draft was starting to come in, Fye said so. 

Fye.

Everything seems to revolve around him, now. 

Maybe...

I blinked. Hold on. I am not about to talk to Sorata about this. 

It is really, really unlike me. But maybe I should tell him, seeing as how he might be able to understand. At least he'd be better at giving advice than the other Scavengers. Remember when you tried to tell Kazuhiko? Not going to repeat the croaking episode. No way in hell. I've got to tell him. 

Listen to yourself. Just – listen to yourself. What the hell are you saying? Sorata? SORATA? Sorata of the Shakespearian prose? Shall we check for a tumor, Doctor? 

But it's really getting to me. I should talk to someone - 

Someone. Heed the wording. _Someone._ There's ten someones at your request. All you have to do is follow the garbage trail, and it'd lead you to any one of the fine young experts. They know more than you think. But seriously, not Sorata...have you completely forgotten what he's like? 

But - 

No. NO. Not another outburst. Shut up. Just, shut up and listen. You are going to pretend that nothing's bothering you. You are. Because this is not a problem that you can just blurt out to the world. You can't say that you're obsessed with him! No – no! I take that back! You're _not_ obsessed with him! You're not, and you don't love him, either! Hold on – what? 

"Kurogane? Kurogane, did you hear what I just said?"

Eep. Too late. He's caught on, the smart, intrusive little bastard. 

No! NO! Die, die, Voice #2! It can't be, it can't be - 

"Hold on for a second, Sorata." I slammed down the phone, closed the door to my room, and held my head in my hands as I sang at the top of my lungs. "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle jingle blah blah blah – and I'm not stopping until you two leave me the hell alone!!"

-

Eventually, I regained my sanity. Sort of.

"Sorata, you've got to tell me...if I said that I fell in love with the specimen I had to take care of who was really a human and who had a mysterious past that tempts me even though I can't tell him that and I'm waiting for him to make a confession...would you hate me?" I asked him, my low voice straining to be calm. I almost sounded sedated.

There was a brief, confused pause. "Um...I'm still trying to get past the 'Jingle Bells' part..."

And so with that, I told him everything. 

I didn't know why I felt the need to do this. Sorata had always been a pain in the ass. So why was I telling him everything...? There were people I trusted more, people I knew better, who could give me similar answers. I could've spoken to Kazuhiko. I could've spoken to Umi. I'd known Kazuhiko for years...he was the one who'd referred me to my job as a Scavenger. Umi...I'd known Umi ever since she was a baby...ever since she began calling me "Ku-chan" because it was all that she could pronounce. I could've gone to either of them.

But no one was quite like Sorata. Somehow, I realized that he would understand better than any of them, and that right now, I didn't need to talk to people I knew. I would only shrink from the truth, so as not to hurt them, and I couldn't afford to do that.

I needed to talk to someone whom I'd distanced myself from so much that he was like a stranger to me, someone I didn't care enough about to care about what it was he told me...someone who doesn't care enough about me to worry about stupid apprehensions. Like the need for tact, for example. 

"I- I can't...I don't believe this. I absolutely do not believe this. Are you an idiot?" Sorata sputtered at me, when I'd finally finished recounting the events of the last few days. 

I was slightly caught off-guard. "Huhwha?"

"This is stupid. This is so insanely stupid that – Kurogane, are you listening to yourself speak?" Someone seemed slightly pissed off. At that point, I was completely clueless, and kind of insulted. Sorata rarely sounds so fed up. "Unless I need to clean out my ears, you're worried about why you're thinking so much about Fye, right?" 

"Um...yeah."

"And if I'm not mistaken, last few days ago, his tail sprouted a pair of wings and split wide open, right?"

"Yeah..." I acknowledged slowly; I got the feeling that somehow, I was missing an important argument. "But, what does that have to do with this?"

Sorata screamed in frustration. I winced at the shrill sound...there was an incredible amount of static coming in for a while (I think he kicked a chair over), and then this.

"And you actually _wonder _why you're fussing over him?"

It finally hit me. 

"So you're saying that anyone would be doing this, if they were put in my place?" I wondered aloud. "Would you be doing what I'm doing, if you were in my place?"

"Obviously!"

So that was it. Mentally, I heaved a trembling sigh...there wasn't anything wrong with me. I cared about Fye. Of course I did. I cared so much because he did something completely extraordinary, and I wasn't overreacting. Anyone would've reacted the way I'd done. 

For once, I was grateful, more than grateful, to have talked to Sorata. Somehow, I was right...he had bequeathed me with all the answers. He was older than I was, and because of that, his past was probably full of similar worries. He'd probably fussed over Arashi for ages, and over his daughters, and over friends and family. But he'd come out of it, knowing that it wasn't wrong to worry so much. It was okay to worry. I wasn't becoming paranoid, and neither was he...I think.

God bless good old Sorata...! First Kakyou, then this...the man really is something. 

It was then that I said something very strange.

"So I'm not going crazy!" I laughed, my words rushing out of me without hesitation, the consequence of sudden relief. I was being completely careless, and my sentences were reckless and lacking the caution and sense that always pervaded them. "Day and night, worrying about that bastard...and it was normal! I mean...f-for a moment, I almost thought that I was in love with him...!"

-

On the other end of the line, Sorata gasped, but didn't say a thing. 

It was only then that I realized what I'd said, and I blanched in fear. Suddenly, time disappeared, and the world along with it. All that existed was the telephone and I, and the sensation of vertigo that haunted me. Claws of despair had compressed my heart, and breathing became a terrible labor. Every intake of air was a draught of bitter reality, frighteningly cold.  

Suddenly, I couldn't think clearly at all...a vile taste was in my mouth. I couldn't move. Inside me, I was shivering convulsively, twisting and writing, clawing my way out. But there was no way out. There was nothing at all. Just me...and the telephone, and the answer I feared beyond anything else at that moment... 

If I could've screamed...  

I almost thought that I was in love with him...? What... 

No. 

No, I can't be. But it must be. It must be true. I feel sick...afraid of what I said, to the pit of my stomach, so it must be true. Shit...shit, it must be true. 

My vision swam. Fye...I...

"You love him," Sorata's voice concluded, quiet with understanding. 

He knew everything now, and I felt exposed...too exposed, as if all of my inner secrets were being prodded and examined for fault. I felt weak and powerless to stop him...he saw me. He saw me at my worst, and I could never forget that horrible sensation of drowning, being eaten up by a numbing cold beyond my control. 

He wasn't doing anything. But I felt as though I was being ridiculed. "Stop...Sorata..."

But he continued nonetheless. "You're scared of loving him, because you can't bring yourself to trust him."

"I do trust him!" I yelled into the receiver. "I do! Don't you dare question – "

"He's full of secrets. And you're so afraid of either of you getting hurt, that you're denying it." He was getting closer and closer...too close to the real me...everything he said hit me like a blow to the face. I was bleeding. He was too close... "But you can't deny it, Kurogane. It keeps returning to you. From every conceivable dark corner, it keeps coming back, doesn't it? Doesn't it? That's why he's on your mind, Kurogane. That's why he's on your mind! You're scared for yourself, and for his safety, but you can't forget it!"

"Shut up, Sorata!" I screamed. "Shut up! You don't know anything!"

"You can't do this to yourself, Kurogane!" His pleading voice, it rang again and again with compounding force inside my head. It was too much. It was too much...I was bleeding...and I couldn't see straight, I felt so sick! Disgusting, disgusting, this truth! "Kurogane!"

"SHUT UP!"

-

A few minutes afterwards, I could hear someone tentatively opening the door. I could almost feel two eyes glancing with silent horror, and morbid fascination, over the broken telephone, over my wretched body lying on the floor, wracked with sobs. There was a gasp. 

"Kurogane..."

A white hand reached out towards me, but I declined it, rolling myself into a ball on the floor, silently screaming. I felt so weak...too weak to look, too ashamed to reach. "No...don't touch me...take your hand away...!"

There were footsteps. 

"What's going on?" Hideki. Incompetent asshole. 

"Is he...?" Suu. Imbecilic songbird.  

I wanted to wring her neck. Hers, and Hideki's, too...I wanted to kill that crowd slowly and painfully, so that they would feel my wrath, and all my humiliation...

"It's going to be all right. I'll talk to him. I don't think he wants to face a crowd right now."

A violent shiver. Even when the footsteps had departed, the memory of the inquiring crowd, moronic and gawking, had bore a hole into my mind. I'd forgotten that they were friends. I'd ignored everything. There was no time, no space, and no memories of the happiness I'd enjoyed such a short time ago. There was just me, just me and the broken telephone that couldn't be forgotten, even if it was burned to ash and insignificance.

The white angel was there, too, staring pensively down at me, worried. I didn't need his pity. It only tore open the gash in my heart. His presence, undermining mine...his eyes, tearless, silent, towering above me...he made me feel like a wounded child. 

I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand it, and yet I don't yell and scream. I huddle in my arms, trying desperately to unite myself with the cold, barren ground. 

"Go away," I begged him in a hoarse whisper, sounding pathetically infantile and helpless as I did so. "Go back to the hell you came from, Fye. I hate you. I've always hated you."

I could hear him kneeling down beside me. A hand lands, like a graceful bird, on my shoulder. It burned into me, and I tried to swat it away, but it was no good. He remained. He always did.

"No."

"How would you know?"

"I don't. There's no way for me to know." I could feel him smile. Sadly? Was he sad...? Thinking about it only made me the angrier. I didn't want his pity...I didn't. I didn't. "But I feel that it's not so. I could be wrong. All I need to do to make certain is to see your eyes."

Never. "I won't face you. I won't. I c-can't..."

My voice failed me. Fye had reached out his hand, and brought my face, drowned by tears, out of my hands. 

The reaction was instant. I felt all my intense anger dissipate at the drop of a hat. Seeing his eyes...those eyes that reflected the light of a million stars and one...had touched my heart. And my tears escaped my eyes in violent streams. His beautiful eyes...even in the beginning, I could not find a single fault with them. And now my words had failed me once again. I could never describe that look he had, that look that told me I would never be alone again...

He was so beautiful. I couldn't describe how much I wanted to be with him. I'd prayed for the longest time that I would not be alone. And there he was, so close to me that I could reach out and touch him if I dared...

But I can't. I just can't. His past...all these secrets between us...I respect him more than... 

Before his eyes, I crumbled.

"I love you..." I swallowed, my voice filled with unwanted desperation. "I care about you so much...but you're just so far away from me...! We're distanced by a past that I don't even know about, and I know I'm not supposed to care so much, but I do...I do! I want to know you...and if that's wrong, then I guess I'll never be any good at being right. But I've come to terms with it, and you'll have to, in time! You can't avoid it...you can't..."

Fye's eyes were indescribably sad, as he folded his arms around me with a gentleness that I didn't deserve. I cried into his shoulder while he comforted me, murmuring into my ear...

"You don't know what you're saying, Kurogane...you don't really...love me..." he told me, pausing on the awkward words. I could tell that it made him upset, what I'd said. His past...what had happened in it, to make him so hesitant? "You're just temporarily drunk on anger...you'll regret your words..."

"Do you hate me?"

"Of course not," he immediately answered, a tinge of hurt in his voice. "I'm concerned for you...!"

"Then don't try to change the way I feel," I murmured into his chest tiredly, as my entire body became numb with exhaustion, and my mind slowly faded away in the aftermath of a raging storm. I'd cried all I could, and the sickness was slowly fading away in the wake of a welcome sleep. 

Believe me, Fye. I might never be brave enough to say those words again...but believe me now. Please... 

But before consciousness forsook me, I heard his tragic voice, vague words in a dense cloud of ponderous thoughts...so vague that I mistook them for my own imagination.

"Kurogane...I don't want to be alone, either..."

Nice little piece of melodrama, there. If it were credible, then it'd really be something. As it is, though, I can't be bothered to read it over and check, because I've got a deadline for myself! 

Hope you enjoyed the little confession! Next up, some sanity – I hope!


	14. A Dimly Shimmering Moment: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)__

_Author's Notes:_

What have I possibly got to say, now? ^-^;;;

I think you're going to be looking forward to this next segment anyway, so...

Oh, no, wait a second! I almost forgot! There _is _one little thing that I have to say! People actually like reading my author's notes? O-O;; That is insane. Absolutely insane! They weren't even author's notes...they were drunken character rants! Take this one for example! It's – it's not even a character rant! This is a parody of what one of my author's notes usually looks like, which isn't an author's note format either! (_Justin Timberlake:_ This is a travesty! ^-^;;; Sorry, randomness...) How about that? Though I can't say that I'm upset. ^-^;; But you guys may be, since I won't be doing any more rants until I get some sort of rant topic. 

(Thinks) Hm...what other characters can I rant about? I'm short on time (and characters...^-^;;;) right now. But I think I can talk about Umi next time around! Think you can wait for that? ^-^ Of course you can! 

Chapter 6: A DIMLY SHIMMERING MOMENT 

_ Also known as_

_"Eleven's a crowd..."_

_Part 2_

Newspapers, restaurant fliers, supermarket coupons, lingerie catalogue...

"We keep a lot of the advertising junk here, just in case anyone needs it. We don't get mail like this on the islands; so it all comes from Hideki's house, and Watanuki's...we try to stock up on these things whenever we get a chance to return to the mainland. That's last week's pile...got them after the conference. They should still be valid." Kazuhiko paused. "What do you need them for?"

I blushed, and mumbled something incoherently. 

"What?"

"A new telephone," I hissed indignantly, trying to look calm as I did so. "I'm trying to find a new telephone."

"Oh..." 

He chuckled, and then coughed deliberately; the entire crew was trying not to invoke the memories of the tantrum I threw the day before, and it wasn't working very well. They were all uncomfortable, wracked with concern about what had happened to me. I noted their effort to make amends. I think they had a few ideas about what went on between Fye and me, few of which were particularly correct, but Kazuhiko...Kazuhiko seemed to know. 

"Um...bottom of the shelf, I think. That's where I usually store fliers from the hardware shop, and the video store."

"Thanks."

When I came out of my room that day, an hour after Fye had left me in a slumber that drained all of my energy, Kazuhiko looked at me in a way that suggested he knew everything. He wasn't stupid...he once worked as a detective on the mainland, until his lover was shot. Oruha was a singer, and so was Suu. I guess that's why, when he first took his old friend Gingetsu up on the offer of a job at sea, and managed to rescue Suu, he decided to stay for good. 

His instincts were still sharp, though I didn't think he needed them. The look on my face always gave me away alarmingly easily. I think he'd sensed that I felt confused and betrayed, and needn't be bombarded with questions. 

He jumped at the chance to find catalogues for me, leading me to the harbor, through the Pufferfish silently, and into a room full of boxes of old catalogues; he didn't ask any questions. 

He had a mysterious past, just like Fye. But at that point, I felt as though he trusted me infinitely better than Fye did. My encounter with Fye had left me confused. I got the feeling that he wanted me to distance myself from him, even though he liked me. 

Did that make any sense? 

I had to try an experiment. Picking up a limp cell-phone advertisement, I glanced at Kazuhiko warily. "If I told you that I loved you, what would be an instinctive reaction for you? Something you'd say without even thinking twice?"

There was a pause. He raised an eyebrow incredulously, shifting in his seat (he was sitting on one of the wooden crates). I think that if it hadn't been him, if it'd been one of the younger Scavengers like Hideki or Kazahaya, they would've fallen off completely, staggering at the idea that I could be spewing that kind of blasphemy (Kazahaya in particular would've ducked for cover...he gets enough of these things from Rikuou). But as it was Kazuhiko, he was more welcoming to the idea (if it can be called that), having been more-or-less a friend to a certain someone with muddled sexual preferences for years.

"I...wouldn't believe you."

"What if you did?"

"I'd say, 'how much?'"

"Put simply, more than I'd ever bothered to care about anything or anyone outside of my own family." I grunted. "Not that that's saying a lot, come to think of it..."

"In other words, 'too much?'"

"Yeah, something like."

"..." He scratched his chin. It was hard to tell whether my query had caught him off-guard. I'd hoped for a bit of surprise, just to be sure his answer was genuine. But unlike me, Kazuhiko had a firm grip on his bodily controls, and he wasn't about to betray anything with his expression. His face had become unreadable...he'd been trained to be as secretive as he could, when necessary. 

Finally, he sighed. His visage seemed to relax visibly, as he scratched the back of his neck. He did that sometimes, when he felt awkward. And now that his pretense was over, I could sense an apology coming. "...I'm not Fye, Kurogane. I'm sorry. But just because I happen to have a past doesn't guarantee that my mind works the same way as his."

"But how would you know? What if it did?" I asked, frustrated that he wouldn't bother to try.

"Because, Kurogane...he would return your feelings. He has a past...but you're pulling him away from it. Slowly, ever so slowly, he's coming towards you." 

Kazuhiko smiled wistfully, glancing out the small window. The light cascading from the glass illuminated his dark eyes, and in them, I could almost make out the reflection of Oruha, a woman he liked...the only woman he'd ever loved. His face was aged remarkably in the glow...all of the pensive lines on his face seemed to sharpen the realization that he was growing older, his mind and heart aging faster than his body. In that singular moment, I saw a sad man I couldn't recognize. 

"And I? Well, if you said that to me...I don't know, Kurogane. I simply wouldn't know. Fye is strong enough to follow your lead, into a brighter future. I might be the kind of person who'd dwell on the past forever."

He then turned to me with a funny smile.

"You told him you love him?"

-

"Please, please pry him the hell away from me...!" I found myself begging Watanuki and Kazahaya for this favor outside the cabin door...they just happened to have wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time... 

Did I mention that Kazuhiko was latched onto my arm like a goddamn leech?

"Seriously...you don't tell a guy an intimate detail like that and not give him the rest of it!" Kazuhiko smirked. I got a sick feeling just looking at him...seriously shouldn't have told anyone... "Come on! What else happened?"

"If that's your death wish..." I hissed through gritted teeth, glaring at him with steely eyes.

He laughed, and wagged a finger at me, suddenly imitating a senile psychiatrist. "Now, now, Kurogane! In order to help you overcome this problem, I need to know all of the graphic details – "

Bang. Crash. Stomp stomp stomp.

"Asshole!" I muttered with a shiver, as I left him in a pulpy mess on the floor. "Ugh...try to bait me with stereotypical old man clichés, why don't you? That one hit way too close to home..."

"Um..." Watanuki ventured. The two were looking very scared now.

"What?" I growled. 

"Have you seen the newspapers?"

I tossed him a stack from inside the room. They were the ones from last week and the week before, listed in reverse chronological order by someone who desperately needs a hobby (coughKohakucough). While I did so, I wondered why either of the two would need newspapers, as neither of them ever seems to have the bloody time to read...I voiced this opinion, of course. "What's it for?" 

But before Watanuki could speak, Kazuhiko started, an incredulous, mildly amused look on his face. He'd gotten up from the floor, and I resisted the inclination to kick him. "Don't tell me that you're still looking for more of that medical journal? Kazahaya...as if you aren't paranoid enough...!"

"It's none of your damn business!" Kazahaya yelled defensively, chucking most of the stack at his face. "We're just curious...and we've got a right to worry about it! The government sure seems to be taking it seriously! And that's saying a lot, you know!"

"Medical journal?" I interrupted. "You guys are reading a medical journal?"

In response to this, Kazahaya blushed, and then dug out from the depths of his patchy overalls a folded flyer, handing it over to me. It was still sticky with residue from the rave on the mainland. "A kid at the party handed this to me...some girl in a Black Mokona costume, named Hokuto – I think she was one of Ran's friends from CLAMP School...it's an awareness flyer, for the CLAMP Campus council sub-division of Supernatural Investigation." He winced. "They have a knack for coming up with long names, ne?"

I unfolded the paper. Sure enough, the winged seal of the ancient campus was emblazoned at the top, to claim its legitimacy. It was actually a double notice. One half was advertising the CLAMP Campus medical study. The other half was late-breaking news on the subject of the CLAMP Campus Detectives, who, by popular demand, had decided to form a J-Rock band and tour across the Tokyo district during their summer vacation...bringing back all the drugged insanity of the eighties.  

Prepubescent boys in disturbing leather shorts didn't interest me much, so I skimmed over the latter article, which I presumed was the one that Kazahaya had taken note of. A few words immediately caught my eye. "A study about cat mutations? Psychic activity? The Rebirth in accordance to mythological symbolism...?"

"Bullshit," Kazuhiko scoffed quietly, but the other two didn't look so sure. 

It was then that I realized, as though for the first time, that both Kazahaya and Watanuki had cat genes. 

Kazahaya's condition was the more obvious of the two; his tail curled out from his custom-tailored overalls (courtesy of our nimble-fingered Yuuko), his ears poked through his tousled hair (it's tough for him to comb through his hair without pricking the sensitive flesh, so he usually gets me or Kazuhiko to do it...never Rikuou), and his eyes were sparkling green-gold marbles – sharp as anything (he uses them to search for the lost beads and trinkets from Suu's many outfits). He was so attached to all of us, despite all his obstinate jabber and aloof attitude, that we'd never really forgotten that he was just a kitten in need of pampering.

But Watanuki has rarely ever shown signs of being a cat. He's not particularly graceful, and he doesn't have thick fur or shapely eyes. He's always clumsy, can't see a thing without his thick glasses, and takes care of himself as well as Yuuko...he doesn't rely on anyone. He's got about as much cat in him as Umi has fox...virtually indistinguishable from any normal person, except for those peculiar moments when he'd eye a chirping bird with bright plumage and, like Kazahaya, would claw at the air with an entranced expression, a natural inclination to jump... 

I glanced at the article some more, the ludicrously small size of the text insubstantial to my wolf eyes, but the stench of the paper more than a touch irritable. "They're doing research on cat specimens?"

Watanuki nodded awkwardly. "Yeah...seems as though archaeologists and biologists from all over are funding the project. CLAMP Campus has actually found proof regarding the subject. They think that cat specimens might actually be endowed with supernatural powers..."

"Bullshit," I instinctively retorted, echoing Kazuhiko's sentiment exactly. He nodded, of course, but Watanuki didn't look too sure. 

"I don't think so. The spokesperson for the group, Shirou Kamui – he's one of Ran's classmates, also – has said that they'd found cat specimens who are endowed with telekinesis, telepathy, and any number of clairvoyant visions. I've done my research. Yuuko found some of their published medical journals for me; they were serialized in the newspapers, and a lot of people are talking...they say that the government is listening to their appeal, to make it a national study and to gather cat specimens from all across the mainland..."

"Where do they get this crap?" I turned to Kazahaya, my interest piquing. It wasn't a joke. It shouldn't have surprised me...I'd known how stupid people could be for my entire life, but if people all across the mainland were taking this seriously...! "Why are they only researching cat specimens?"

"Ancient scriptures, apparently." He shrugged, though I could see that he was avid about the subject, maybe even more so than Watanuki. He rambled on fervently. "When you trace the mythology of the cat in ancient times...Egyptian feline goddesses, European witches and their cat familiars, the sacred Burmese cat...the roots of these legends had always been in the fact that the creatures possessed occult powers. 

"Sometimes, they were used as servants of the gods. In other times, they were seen as pagan symbols. But always, they were powerful. CLAMP Campus wants to see if there's any truth in that." He grinned delightedly, his eyes widening. "What if all cat mutations have untapped occult power? What if I was psychic?"

I made a face. "Then God help Rikuou."  

In my mind, I knew that it couldn't have been true. If anything in those myths were true, it wouldn't resurface due to some artificial mutation from the Rebirth. If the campus had come out and said that real cats were magical entities...that, I might believe. 

Seriously, I might. When I was a kid, I once saw this one really human-looking auburn cat with a collar that said "Mokona A."; the thing followed me around all day, and I could've sworn it was grinning, and...oh, hell. Never mind. It was too weird. 

In any case, I didn't believe it, although the idea was a curious one (I, like everyone else on the goddamned ship, wanted to see Kazahaya the underdog – er, cat - get his revenge eventually). Kazuhiko just plain dismissed it as mass paranoia. He was a man of science. 

"It's just hype...it'd die down eventually," he scoffed, brushing the idea aside with a wave of his hand. "There was a time when everyone said that CLAMP Campus would remove itself from the mainland because of the Rebirth's aftereffects, remember? Everyone was talking about it. Then it turned out that enrollment and attendance was no worse. Gifted children would always fulfill their function in life by going to the most advanced academy...there was nothing else for it. 

"They wouldn't be satisfied with second-rate; if it wasn't what they wanted, it wasn't worth doing. So they went to CLAMP, despite the Rebirth's effects, and the people stopped talking. This'll dissolve just as quickly.

"Besides, I've met Shirou Kamui!" he added as an afterthought, ushering me towards the end of the hall and the ship's exit, leaving Kazahaya and Watanuki to ponder the laws of the universe. "The guy's manic. Depressed as hell...can't stop moping. Last I heard, he was counting down the days till the end of the world!"

-

I did manage to mail out one of the fliers I'd gotten. Because this entire godforsaken island is cut off from the rest of the world, I got Kohaku to send my flier form off to one of the post offices on Tudor Isle...Suu was too busy preening. 

In recompense for this long flight, I gave him some cash to blow while he was there, hoping that no one would con him into buying hentai magazines. It wouldn't have been the first time, that's for certain. I only had so much money, and I would've been severely irked to see him spend it all with only an issue of the Chobits Sex Gadgets catalogue to show for it. 

Poor kid. Somebody was always trying to trick him. He had a pretty face, and wasn't too bright...not the best combination. Logically, he should've been traveling with someone else, just to keep him in check – he constantly amazes us with his lack of knowledge about basic human behavior; we usually didn't leave him to do these things alone. 

But I figured he'd be all right. He wasn't that dumb. I just hoped that Gingetsu wouldn't chastise me. That would be kind of degrading...

The new phone probably wouldn't arrive for about a month, depending on how fast these things get done in the mainland. And speedy delivery cost extra; with my pathetic tip, they'll probably take their sweet ass time. That was all fine and good. I had alternatives. There's always an alternative. 

-

Gingetsu was reasonably cautious, when I asked him if I could borrow his phone.

"If you smash it, I think you know I'll be docking pay," he warned me right before he left the room. On his nightstand was placed a phone, blood red. How fitting. It reflected my damn reflection, and inwardly, I winced to compare it with my old phone, smudged with paint residue and oily fingerprints. He probably waxed and cleaned it every night with a goddamned toothbrush.

I grunted. "I hope you don't think I'm prone to throwing hissy fits, Gingetsu..."

"That wouldn't be like me," he assured, smiling a little. "I hope you don't think I'm prone to being presumptuous. You have never thrown a fit quite like that before...but I take it that your friend is as forgiving as I am? Otherwise, the call would be useless."

Truth be told, it was hard to tell with Sorata. 

Yeah...I was calling him. Okay. My conscience had been coming at me like a sledgehammer all week long. It was high time I told him what was going on. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd thought I was insane. 

Fye...probably already did. 

I can't blame either of them. I'm not too sure of my sanity myself. When they said to me that love drove a person crazy...God, I wish I'd taken it literally. But all the same, that didn't excuse the way I talked to Sorata. And it wasn't because I liked him or anything, either...it was mostly because I disliked him. I disliked him so much that I was actually concerned about his opinion of me. It was that damn strange.

So I devised myself a plan of action. First, buy a new phone...it was the easiest task of the three, and would get me into a productive mode. Second, apologize to Sorata. I owed him that much. Third, confront Fye. I'd been trying to avoid him ever since the incident yesterday, and the fact that I couldn't even face him pissed me off. None of the tasks were particularly simple, and I prioritized them based on levels of difficulty. Yes, I know that you're supposed to do it the other way around. I don't give a crap.

You can imagine how relieved I was when I'd punched in Sorata's number and, after much nervous waiting and some bucket loads of perspiration, got the answering machine. 

"Hello! Sorry we're not able to be here!" Sorata's recorded voice greeted me like a shining trumpet note. I was more than relieved. I was ecstatic. So much so that I actually had to relieve my pent-up energy by jumping on Gingetsu's bed. Have you ever jumped on a king-sized waterbed? Fricking awesome feeling. 

The answering machine was customized every single day, believe it or not, without fail. Sorata was manic...he had waaaay too much fun playing with his phone. And so it was today. It was one of his typical messages...mood swings abound and all. Have a listen.

"We'd gone to the doctor this morning, and that's why we're not here!" Here Sorata deflated a bit. Obviously, the joy of programming his phone had been saturated somewhat. "Kasumi got a bit of food poisoning...it has to be the Halloween candy!" And then he soars to the other end of the spectrum...full-out red-eyed rage. "What kind of sick bastard would give our little Kasumi expired candy? The asshole!" Calming down slightly... "If you gave my Kasumi food poisoning – and you know what you did – " Deep breath. "...Leave a message." 

I almost laughed. Not because it was funny, because I'd heard its like dozens of times already, but because of the high I was currently getting from having come – that – close to having to confront him about yesterday. 

Thank God. Thank the almighty - 

But it didn't stop there. "Oh, and if this is Kurogane on the line..."

I froze. The waterbed lurched beneath me, and the gooey mass slid under my feet. I landed, presumably, on my ass, though it really hurt all over...leaving me a stunned pile of flesh on the floor, with the telephone on top of me.  

Damn God. Damn him, and damn him good...! 

"...I'm real sorry for what happened before. Were you okay?" Sorata's voice continued, full of concern. He quieted down to almost a whisper, as though it were confidential. "Look, I didn't mean to get you riled up. Could we talk about this whole business with you-know-who? You obviously do want to talk...you're not the type of person who'd call me and wait on my answering machine just to vent your anger. You want to talk, and that's a good thing. Leave me a message after the beep, okay? And...take care of yourself."

The beep came, after an eternity of silent disbelief. Still lying on the floor in a crumpled heap, I brought the receiver to my numb lips, and whispered hoarsely my reply to the void. 

"Thank you, Sorata. I told him I loved him. All because of you..." I closed my eyes, feeling the sensation of an immeasurable gratitude well up inside me. 

I really was becoming too sentimental. I knew this, because I found myself saying to the machine words that I could never find the nerve to say to him directly, words that I thought I'd never need to say to anyone. 

"I'm sorry, Sorata. C-Call me back."

-

Needless to say, after finding a leak in his precious bed, and concluding the obvious, Gingetsu would never allow me to use his phone again. Or his bed. Or his room. I was almost kicked out of the goddamned house, and doomed to freeze in the Pufferfish for the winter holidays. Yeah, he was pissed, but I'd seen him worse.

At this point, I decided with a heavy heart to look for Fye. This was going to be tough. I knew that already. But Fye had a way of surprising me...either it was going to be much easier or I was going to have to stride through hell and back, and I didn't much like the sound of either, because – as you may or may not have noticed – being surprised really irked me. 

I would've liked to know what he was going to say; it would've been great to have a rough idea of what was going to happen when I saw him next, I thought, as I walked briskly through the corridors. I didn't like being outsmarted, or outwitted, or made a fool of.

Um.

For once, I would've loved to predict Fye. Just once. It didn't need to happen ever again...just once, to show that he wasn't an enigma that was completely beyond my comprehension. I would've liked to see that I could understand him, could grasp what made him different, what problems plagued him. 

All I knew for certain was that I couldn't possibly be there for him unless I met him on a mutual level. At that point, I could've settled for anything...anything to bring him closer to me. He couldn't be out of my reach completely...I didn't dare believe that.

I knew, somehow, that he didn't want to be alone, either.

I wished I were one of those psychic cats Shirou Kamui wrote about in CLAMP's medical journals. Then I could've predicted everything he was going to say, and counter them with a grace I have never had. I wanted to match Fye's wit.

But that wouldn't have been me. That wouldn't be a victory. I knew in my heart that that wouldn't appease me at all. 

So I swallowed my pride and continued looking for him. Love makes you do that. 

Kazahaya and Watanuki were doing their research in the boat. Umi had been working in the garden. Yuuko had grabbed Hideki, to help finish assembling the windowpane she was working on before. Gingetsu was cleaning up the waterbed's mess, and Suu was preening on the balcony. Kohaku was still on his errand...the weather had become a touch colder, and I hoped he was doing fine out on Tudor Isle. Kazuhiko, bored out of his mind, had taken up balancing the checkbook, which Gingetsu left undone when he went to check on me. 

I quickly eliminated them on my fingers. There were eight Scavengers, plus myself, plus Umi, plus Fye. Eleven. Minus seven Scavengers, minus me, minus Umi...

That left Fye and Rikuou still left unaccounted for, and I hoped to God that they weren't together. If Fye were alone, that would've made my task so much easier. I couldn't imagine how awkward it would've been to talk to him with huge, suspicious Rikuou looming over us. Ugh...scariness. 

Hm. Really shouldn't have thought that, though. Because as luck would've had it...

-

"Why do I always jinx myself?" I muttered through gritted teeth.

"Kurogane, you're early." Rikuou was the first to notice me, as he set the large dining table for lunch. The aroma of roasted ham and fresh bread wafted through the air, to nip at my twitching nose. Fye was beside the counter, loading the pots and pans into the sink, and he paled somewhat when he saw me. 

I shook my head, feeling immediately awkward. "I'm not here for the food. I need to speak to Fye."

Rikuou blinked, and glanced questioningly at Fye, who looked away. Seeing as he looked as tired and bored as he always did, you'd think that he wouldn't notice the awkwardness in the room. Don't. The guy isn't oblivious to anything, particularly awkwardness – one of Kazahaya's defining characteristics, no less. 

"It'll only take a moment," I told Rikuou, seeing his uncertainty. He wasn't a bad person (shocking...), and he wouldn't willingly turn over Fye to me if my intentions weren't clearly good. "We just have to talk about...yesterday."

He raised an eyebrow, still a bit unsure. "Fye?"

Without speaking, Fye motioned for me to follow him into the next room. I caught a momentary glimpse of his eyes, and the sight saddened me. His eyes were completely mirthless...I could tell. Never had I seen his smile look so empty before. He seemed tired...struck with a malady that couldn't be explained, a malady of the soul. 

I followed him. And with a sickening lurch of the stomach, I realized that I had gotten my ill-conceived wish. For the first time in my life, by looking into his eyes, I could see the inner workings of Fye's mind. I could predict his thoughts, his plan, his motive.

I could see, in those beautiful, sad eyes, what he would say to me.

-

At the same time, in the house, something else was happening...something that wasn't as important to me as my confrontation with Fye, but almost. We had no way of knowing it, at the time, but it was the first in a chain of events that would change us forever. 

Rikuou told me about it afterwards. He was involved, after all. 

After Fye and me had departed from the room, he resumed cutting the sandwiches into perfect triangles. He always cooked for us, even on the ship; in order to accommodate everyone's tastes, a choice chef had to be extremely good. And Rikuou delivered. It was one of the main reasons he was one of our team: to cook, to plan, and to tease Kazahaya, which came as second nature to him. But cooking was his first priority, because he was so damn good at it.

His sensitive ears twitched. "Kazahaya, stop slinking around. We'll eat when we'll eat. You're not getting my sandwiches any earlier than anyone else." He smirked knowingly at the table, from behind which emerged slowly a guilty pair of ears. "What, did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"Yeah, well, you can't blame me for trying," Kazahaya mumbled, rising up from the ground. He placed a platter back on the table, glowering at his arch-nemesis. "Wasn't Fye helping you?"

"He was." A thumb gestured towards the other door. "But they went into the other room."

"They?"

"Kurogane came along. Presumably, it was about yesterday." Rikuou grinned cunningly, wiping his hands with the dishtowel. "I think he told Fye that he loved him back then."

Kazahaya's jaw dropped, and his squeaky voice raised an octave. "What the hell...?"

"He must've. Now, they're probably coming to terms."

"B-B-But how? Why? K-Kurogane and Fye?" The boy was struggling to make sense of it all, poor kid. He wasn't homophobic, but the fact that men did tend to hit on him back on the mainland didn't help matters. His mind was having severe difficulty grouping me with the rest of those men. Loyal little brat, I'd give him that much. "W-What the hell?"

"Don't tell me you didn't notice," the older man laughed, sensing a weak point and going for it in his own secretive, seductive way. Ugh. Rikuou would use any means to humiliate. Any means at all. Bastard. He reminded me of my school bullies. "You should see the way Kurogane looks at Fye with those puppy dog eyes..."

(Just to clarify, I did not stare at him with anything like puppy dog eyes. That's pathetic, a-and it's completely wrong, and...he said it, not me. I would never...no. No! Ignore the all-consuming blush on my face. Ignore it, damn you! Aw...forget it.)

A moment passed, in which Kazahaya, completely shocked, was allowed to let this bit sink in. Normally, he would've tackled his big burly mortal enemy, which would've resulted in a really compromising position if the fates were kind, but apparently he was too shocked even to do that. He blinked several times owlishly...very charming, according to Rikuou. (No, I'm sure I have no clue what the hell he was talking about.)

"I guess you're right," he murmured, tapping his chin in thought. "Come to think of it, when we first saw Fye standing, Kurogane took his hand, and they seemed to...well, something was definitely very strange about that moment," he decided. "There was something flickering in their eyes that just - "

He stopped.

"That just...what?" Rikuou prompted, a bit unnerved by the sudden silence (which wasn't really like our kitten at all...). 

But still, Kazahaya didn't move. He didn't say anything...just stood stock-still. For a while, he seemed utterly confused. Then a few seconds passed, and he swerved his head around, averting his gaze from Rikuou, and looked around the room, as though he expected to find a person there. Then he turned back, still with the same baffled look on his face.

"Didn't somebody just...?" he asked, his tone wavering and uncertain. 

A few seconds passed. Rikuou had no idea what was going on, but he continued to watch the boy curiously. Then Kazahaya suddenly jumped.

"There! I heard it again!" he declared, wildly darting from the kitchen. "A stranger's in the mansion!"

He swiftly dashed to the room with the giant swimming pool, but no one was there. Panting dazedly, he looked about, with an utterly bewildered expression. Behind him followed Rikuou, disconcerted by this strange behavior but wary. Neither of them could find anyone.

Angrily, Kazahaya turned to his companion, a foreign gleam in his eyes. The doubting look on the other's face prompted him to justify himself, even when nothing had been said between the two.

 "But...but I swear, it was here!" Breathlessly, he flung his hand out in the direction of the room in outrage, as though accusing it of treachery. "I heard the voice of a man! It wasn't like the voice of any of the Scavengers! It was a stranger...and it was calling out for Kurogane!"

"For Kurogane...?"

For a while, Rikuou stood there, studying the desperate expression on the young man's face. Then, he turned to the room, where there was clearly nothing...no one, and hardly anything. There wasn't any voice. It was probably just Kazahaya's imagination. Look. All that was in the room was that pool, the shards of the window, and the pot near the - 

His eyes widened. In a minute, he'd turned on his heels, and walked briskly back in the direction of the kitchen.

"Wait! Where are you going?" The urgent call echoed in the passageway. 

 "That reminded me...I nearly forgot to water Kurogane's plant!" He cast a look down to Kazahaya. "Don't be stupid...there wasn't any voice."

Kazahaya shook his head, furious that he was being ignored. He would never lie about something that he truly heard. Why didn't Rikuou hear it, too? "No! There was! There must've been! Someone was calling out to Kurogane!"

But there was no answer. Despondently, he glanced at Kakyou, sitting in the empty room.

"What was it...?"

Wow. My writing style's changed a bit. I'm looking back at the beginning of the story, and I'm seeing a major lack of humor in these chapters. But then again, it is the meat of the story that's being uncovered here. Yeah, that's my pathetic excuse. Leave it or believe it. ^-^;;

So what is Fye going to tell Kurogane? And is Kazahaya going insane? ^-^;; This isn't very mysterious at all. Should be easy to figure out. 

In any case, watch for the willow to make more of an impact!

(To the tune of Avril Lavigne) He was a cat, he was a tree...can I make it any more obvious? -;;;;;; Okay, stopping...see you guys in two weeks, methinks!


	15. Lost Child: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

I promised you a rant. And a rant you shall have. Yaaaay! ^-^;;;;;

But right before that...I just managed to snag Chapitre 27. ^-^ Good God, but Fye and Kurogane looked wicked on the cover...! (My fave T-RC guys in color...can you imagine? What a feeling! ^-^;;) There are times, yes, when I have a problem with CLAMP's strange proportions. But now would not be one of those times. Frankly, looking at the pic, I don't really give a damn whether Kuro's arms are too long right about now, or whether Fye-chan is frighteningly tall. It's all good from here. ^-^ Oh...and one more thing. Fye always seems to be clasping Sakura's hand. I'm a bit late in noticing this, I know. It all looks very gentlemanly, but I can't help thinking that – aw, who gives a damn what I think? But I'll tell you this: Syaoran'd better get back in there, and quick! -;;; Fye's very charming, as we know all too well...   

So, yeah, back to the subject. ^-^;; Why was one Ryuuzaki Umi placed into the fic? Well, as I've already stated, Rayearth was the very first CLAMP series I'd ever read...and what a first. Ever one of their other series, I see in parallel to my first experience of their artwork, which was in Rayearth. I see T-RC as a male equivalent of MKR. You already know why. ^-^;; And I see Umi as Kuro's female counterpart, and you probably already know why that is, too.

Okay, now I'm going to stop stating the obvious. I swear. -;; (What's my word worth, again?) 

Main reason why I put Umi in was because she was so much like Kurogane that they were as good as...well, relatives. ^-^ Methinks that it was the glare that did it, mostly. And bouts of hyperventilating can become hereditary, too. But there are distinct differences between them. Kurogane acts older. He might not necessarily be much older than Umi, but there are times when he looks so nonchalant that it almost radiates a sort of maturity. That's when I decided that he'd be Umi's uncle. A very young uncle. (How old is he? -_-;;;) 

Umi is a strong character. You can see it the moment Hikaru spots her in Tokyo Tower. I saw it. A bit frivolous, certainly, and prone to bitching, but she isn't all hot air. She can easily hold her own. It is evident in the way she walks and talks, which is a splendid way to judge most people. Her mannerisms are sophisticated, her preferences refined. Every stride of hers is an exercise in elegance. She is a very classy young lady. 

There's worth in that, if you think about it; the way she holds herself suggests that she is mature, and independent, which we all know quite well is the truth. She is confident in a way that Hikaru and Umi aren't, because she has pride, and believes in herself. That's why she can level with anyone, and look him or her in the eye, the way she looked at Hikaru. She is elevated by her mere believe that she is elevated. Her conviction is the key to her strength of heart.

Umi cares about other people. I think she'd make a fine mother when she grows up. ^-^ She sees Hikaru and Fuu as sisters...as family. She is willing to suffer for them even despite the absurdly short time they'd spent together. If there is one thing that Umi cannot tolerate, it is injustice, and any injustice done to her best friends is returned tenfold. Her bickering is perpetual, but her real anger is reserved for people who cannot treat her family and friends with dignity. Because she is constantly treated with dignity, she has a natural expectation, a want for others to receive the same. And because of her maturity and her confidence, she sees herself as an older sister figure, particularly to Hikaru, whom she tries to protect on multiple occasions. 

I believe it's somewhere in the second book where she claims that wanting to help Hikaru gave her strength...because she sees herself as a benefactor to everyone around her, she cannot stand letting anyone down. For every expectation she has placed upon the heads of other people, she places two on herself. To Umi, the people around her are most important; letting them see her strength and helping them be strong is her greatest priority. As much as she wants to be admired, she wants to earn that admiration. She wants to feel strong. And so she fights to protect those she loves greater than herself. For Umi, there is no greater priority than her friends, because they give her the strength she needs to continue striving for greater things.   

Umi has an attitude. Sure. Of course she does...and so many people don't. Some people opt to be shy and play second fiddle. Others are obnoxious. They promote their false bravado on a stick, and sharp-eyed individuals can see that they cannot carry out their word. They lie and threaten people. They bully others in order to elevate themselves. I don't remember ever seeing Umi do any of these lowly things. She's a lot better than I am, I can tell you that...I'll admit to having done a few of these things myself, in my insecurity, but Umi is confident, and she doesn't need to tell anything other than the truth in order to garner the respect that she deserves. And she demands her respect, with feet planted firmly and eyes shining. She overreacts sometimes, and she yells and screams a lot. But she never asks for more than she deserves, and her actions speaks depths that her words do not betray. 

The Rayearth girls are all quite strong. They all care deeply for one another. Fuu draws her strength from her compassion, and Hikaru draws her strength from her daring. But Umi, more than any of them, is strong because of her resolve and her understanding of other people. I love the other girls to death, but I admired her from the start. She was...kind of like someone I wanted to be. Or maybe, the older sister I never had. ^-^ A great role model to all. (CoughKuroganecough)

Chapter 7:  LOST CHILD 

_ Also known as_

_"Kurogane and Suu's excellent adventure"_

_Part 1_

For the longest time, I couldn't say anything in response to him. Couldn't, or wouldn't? I didn't want to face him, even though I knew I had to. I wished that the moisture around my eyes weren't gathering tears, even though they couldn't have been anything else. 

I didn't want to cry again, I didn't, I didn't...I wouldn't!

No. Not after yesterday.

"That's a lie." 

I didn't know what Fye was doing as I murmured that in the deathly quiet room, quiet like everything else around this godforsaken mansion. I hated it...this lack of movement, lack of change, this lethargic attitude that refused to rise from the comfortable nest of ignorance that it had molded. And I hated him the most, for his acceptance of everything, for his fear of me. 

Something told me that he was still standing where he was when he'd said it...his body propped up in a corner like a rag doll devoid of strength, minute trickles shimmering below his eyes.  

A brief moment passed. He sniffed, a quiet and secretive sound, a sound that he all but snuffed out with his palm. "I wouldn't lie to you, Kurogane."

But it was a lie. And it was wrong, horribly wrong. It was wrong in so many ways that it tore me up inside, and for him to lie again, it...

Something burst inside me. The frustration exploded out of me like a dormant fire, and it consumed my good sense. Before I even knew what I was doing, I'd stood up and kicked the wooden chair with a mighty fury, so that it splintered and collapsed in chips and ligaments across the room with a bang!

"It's a lie!" I yelled, striding towards him angrily. "You can't mean it!"

The distance between us became a blur in the vast emptiness of my mind, and I was upon him before I knew it, screaming in his ear, clutching his body to me in a suffocating embrace. He couldn't do a thing, but it enraged me that he didn't even try...that he simply fell limply into my arms, his tears dampening my shirt, and he didn't protest. He felt lifeless in my arms, even though his heart was next to my own, pounding steadily as it always had. He had no will to fight.

Never had I known with such conviction that he wasn't telling the truth. He wasn't struggling at all. It wasn't that his heart conflicted with my own at all. Otherwise, he would've at least tried to push me away. But no...no. He was calmly accepting my anger. It was as though he thought I was throwing a tantrum, and he was waiting for me to stop.

He was waiting with silent dignity for me to give up on him. 

"Look at me! Fye, look at me!" I drew his face towards mine, desperately trying to reach him. There was no emotion in his eyes, and I didn't expect there to be. He was hiding behind his quiet, something that I couldn't contend with at all, if it weren't for the thread of tears on his pale skin. He was listening. He had to listen. 

"I know you don't want to be hurt. You've been hurt in your past, haven't you? Everyone has, but with you...the case is special. I don't know what it is, and I don't give a rat's ass; you know why? Because I'll never do that to you, Fye! I would never bring myself to hurt you!"

He shuddered in my arms, so violently that I could feel it course through me, and I gripped him more tightly than ever. 

"But what if I hurt you...?" I heard him whisper in the lowest of voices, almost drowned out by the tension. "You have no idea, Kurogane...you have no idea how much I could hurt you..."

I suddenly came to the realization that perhaps, his past was not full of suffering, but of guilt. What could that mean, though? What could he have possibly done? Why did he feel as though he would hurt me? I'd never considered it before. Fye had always seemed so innocent and carefree...the very idea that he could've done anything wrong to hurt anyone was...

No. It wasn't impossible. 

He'd hurt me already.

"No one can judge you, Fye. No one can. I have no idea what you'd done in the past, and if that's all I'll ever know about you, so be it. But please..." I pleaded, the words streaming out shakily, my hoarse voice doing them no justice at all, "...Please, take back what you said to me, Fye. Take it back. You couldn't have meant it, no matter what.

"You couldn't hate me."

-

We stayed like that for what seemed like a horrifying eternity. He bit his lip. His lack of emotion was torturous to me, but there was nothing else that he could've done. I didn't think about that. All I could think was that he might be too scared to affirm what I'd said. 

That it might all be over. 

It was painful, but I never wanted it to be over. Not until he gave me an answer, even if it meant crushing my heart with his bare hands.

Eventually, it was all over, because all of a sudden, the door crashed open. The urgency carried with the sound was the only thing that snapped me back. Gingetsu stood in the empty doorway, and I could see the shapes of others behind him. 

I was angry that he'd intruded, but glad, somehow. I wasn't relieved. Nothing could make me relieved. With a heavy heart, I turned to him, slowly and silently. "What is it?"

"Where is Kohaku?" He demanded, his face flushed - an image of fear, a startling rare occurrence. It was as though he'd been scaling the entire mansion in search of someone, something. "He should've been sweeping the mansion by now. He was on duty. But he's not out in the garden, and he's not in here! He's not on the goddamned island at all! Do you know if someone had the gall to send him out on a foggy day to Tudor?"

The shock finally broke through to me. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead, as the image of lovely Kohaku shattered all other concerns...even Fye. 

"He's not back yet?"

-

"This sort of negligence is bound to get him killed. He's got the mentality of a child!" Watanuki shuddered fearfully, cramming the emergency supplies into a heavy black backpack, all the while glancing at me with a disapproving glare. His disapproval wasn't quite as rare as Gingetsu's hyperventilating, not by a long shot, but all the same, it burrowed into my conscience and embedded deep. 

I knew what I'd done, and the severity of the consequences...not just for me, but also for Kohaku. Especially for Kohaku. He'd rarely gotten lost before. That's because the crew kept an eye on him. We were at sea...it wasn't as though he could've gone anywhere. But now...

"Why did you do it, Kurogane? Even sending Suu out there with him was a better decision than sending him alone! At least Suu can decipher road signs by their color, and can see danger. Remember how we found her? She was being attacked by seagulls, and before that, she'd lived on islands with other predators – you could see the scars on her body; she's a hardened warrior. She'd suffered attacks before, so she can identify trouble, but Kohaku...! Kohaku doesn't even have the good sense to run away from an attacker! He was born and raised in the mainland like a household pet...he's too domesticated and too gentle even to use his animal instincts! He's like a defenseless baby!"

"I know, I know, Watanuki..." I gripped my head in my hands, grimacing. 

"But you don't know, Kurogane. You don't. That's what caused this problem in the first place," Watanuki pointed out morosely, packing one last bottle of water into my bag for good measure. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd loaded enough junk in there to break my back. I deserved it. 

"If you had known that Tudor Isle was completely drenched in fog today, you would've thought better of it. I know you would've. But you didn't. The best thing you can do for us now is to accept it with a bit of dignity. Think of Kohaku...please."

All around me was a bustling commotion. In the hall, the others were discussing how best to transport me to Tudor Island, where we were certain trouble was brewing. We already knew that no ferries came from that direction. The engine of the Pufferfish was kaput, and the water was too cold to even consider swimming from. 

Everyone was scared stiff...some chose to scream at each other to relieve that terror, in the hopes that their combined racket would've proven productivity enough to do something for our lost bird. Others wallowed in their fear, pacing nervously back and forth and wiping at their damp eyes. 

It was not any sort of overreaction. Hell, I wished it were. That would've justified my mistakes. But it wasn't, and I refused to run away instead of making amends. Kohaku really was every bit as defenseless as Watanuki could imply, even when he was around us. We couldn't imagine what people would do to him if he were alone...!  

-

We all loved him, and some of us – the oldest of our team – had done so ever since he came to them in a brightly packaged cage into the Scavenger home base. This was years before I joined, when Gingetsu was still a new recruit in the business. He told me about it, because he used to work as a clerk in the main offices, right alongside Yuuko and Rikuou. 

There was a lovely forest green ribbon in Kohaku's soft hair, he reminisced, and the bird was wearing a pure white robe. No one knew where he came from, and no one had any idea why he was delivered to the office. But they were all glad he came. 

The mainland's economy had been spiraling down into the pits of hell in those days, and they couldn't afford to hire a bigger workforce for the Scavengers. But Kohaku was willing to alphabetically arrange papers and dust the bookshelves clean -menial tasks that took the office's concentration away from their actual work – for nothing more than the cost of living. And although he was illiterate, he worked amazingly hard to try and live up to everyone's expectations, which he did admirably. 

No one could track down Kohaku's records anywhere, and all he knew was his own name. It was as though he was an angel sent down in the nick of time. Damn cheesy, but when Gingetsu said this himself, you wouldn't even consider laughing.

And you'd better believe it, because everyone else did. So did I.

But I didn't need to know that to realize that I had to save him, even if I had to go alone to Tudor Island. 

-

See, the bottom line about the transportation method was this: there was a rickety little dinghy in Gingetsu's possession, which he kept in some inconceivably dusty corner in the mansion. He hadn't had to get it out in a damn year. 

If all else failed, we could only transport two people to Tudor, using said dinghy. None of us much liked the sound of that. 

But as we turned it over and over in our heads, it became painfully clear that we were probably going to have to resort to using the floating piece of dreck. I'd sensed we were going to come down to this, so I called shotgun beforehand, so to speak. So even if the rest of us ended up tearing each other's throats out for the second spot, I would get to go there. No one argued, because they all wanted to see me go to hell. 

"You got any idea who else is going?" I asked Watanuki, who'd volunteered to back my bags not to sabotage my stuff, but to do something productive to ease off the stress level. And that he did admirably, though his pale forehead was still sopping wet with perspiration and he was visibly shaking. 

As I spoke offhandedly to him, I found that I knew the answer to my own question. It was going to be Suu. It was almost out of the question for anyone else to go, because Suu was a bird, and as such, we believed her to have some sort of mental connection to Kohaku on a primal level. She's never exhibited this, but we liked to believe these things anyway. I had to believe it. I had to believe that she could help us recover him.

Besides, even if she wasn't psychically attracted to the other bird, Suu was a sharp one, and she noticed things quickly. We needed that. I was a bit blunt, and Suu was nothing like me, so she could make up for all that I lacked. And she cared about Kohaku, too. She had to. She was the one we designated responsible for keeping his curious fingers away from electrical outlets on the boat...she's been around him for so long that she's been like a big sister to him.

She'd find him. She and I...we'd find him. The two of us can't go wrong...can't afford to go wrong. Besides, what if Kohaku was just lost, or decided to browse in the stores? Maybe he found some sort of trinket that...

Goddamn it. You know he could do that for two hours, the dimwit, but not for four hours straight, Kurogane! Not even him. Not even Kohaku. He's a responsible kid, all else aside...more responsible than me. He wouldn't make us worry. He cares too much about us. 

"Probably Suu," Watanuki responded crisply, right about the time when I'd finished reasoning it in my head. He zipped up my bag with a swift jerk. 

"Oh. Good."

-

"Did you water Kakyou, like I asked?"

"Just a minute ago," Rikuou responded, nodding. He was the first to greet my sight as I stumbled out of the awkward atmosphere of the kitchen, and as much of an eyesore as he usually was, he looked infinitely better to me today. I did not want to face a disgruntled Watanuki again. 

I raised an eyebrow carefully, strapping the loaded backpack onto my back with significant effort. "Only a moment ago? Rikuou, I asked you an hour before."

"Yeah..." He paused awkwardly. "I had to make lunch for the crew and I...kind of forgot." 

All thoughts rushed out of my head in that single instant, and my eyes flashed incredulously. My fist collided with his face before I could even think twice, marring his cheek with a raw scrape that seemed to fly out of nowhere. The backpack fell limply onto the floor with a crash, and something fragile shattered inside...almost simultaneously, Rikuou staggered, his back crashing against the nearby wall.

Watanuki rushed out of the kitchen with a start, immediately followed by frantic footsteps echoing down from the other hall. "Kurogane! What the hell are you doing?"

 "You forgot...? You asshole, you can't forget!" I towered over him, a blinding rage in my eyes. I could hardly feel the sting of my knuckles, where it connected with taut, unsuspecting flesh. "I trusted you to do one goddamned favor for me, and you turn your back and pull this shit on me? I trusted you, you useless bastard! You know exactly what happened when I forgot to water Hinoto. You know. I told you – I warned you! Or were my words not enough?"

No...my words weren't enough. There was no way for me to describe to you how Hinoto had suffered and been degraded by all manners of lesser creatures in her lifetime. 

But I...trusted you! I trusted you to do that one task that I failed at! I promised Sorata that I'd take care of Hinoto's unborn child. Kakyou's fate was in my hands. For one day, I passed it onto another person. One day, and this had to happen. Why...? Why can't anyone else realize how important Kakyou is to me? 

I failed to respect her. I can't let you do the same. I can't let this kind of ignorance spread any further...not amongst my own damn crew! Hell...I killed her! How can I make you understand that, Rikuou? How can I make you understand that I'm a murderer...? 

How...? 

My breathing was ragged and uneven as I stood there, my eyes burning. Rikuou didn't get back up...just stayed there, limp and helpless, staring up at me with a questioning gaze – a gaze so rare that it made me hesitate for a single moment. 

And in that moment, another fist collided with my face.

"Kurogane!" Gingetsu's bark resounded in my head, as I became overcome with vertigo, sinking to my knees with my eyes reeling. It was as though my cheek was smoldering, set sparkling hot with a dry match and left inflamed. It came so fast that I couldn't comprehend it at first...thought it was inhuman. 

But it was certainly Gingetsu, Gingetsu who had served in the army for five years before, whose fist was like the appendage of a steel-enforced machine. And now his voice rang in my head like a frantic alarm. I could feel my shoulders being shaken...Umi. She'd rushed forward as soon as I'd fallen. 

"Get...hold of...self! Isn't...enough...lost Kohaku?" Slowly but surely, the words began to differentiate themselves again in my head, and I scrambled to sort them into comprehensible sentences. I had to get up...had to get up. Had to look him in the eye. Umi's long hands were on my shoulders, on my face, slapping me awake... "Now's not...time for this degree of stupidity! We have to act fast, and you're wasting our time!"

I faced him, my face skinned raw, and my eyes glared at him balefully. I wiped away the trickle of red from my lip, and forced myself to get back on my feet. If there was anything I knew for certain, it was that I had to defend my reason.

It was just as important as defending Kakyou.

But when I finally managed to stand, my feet apart and my fists ready, I saw the others, more clearly than before. I saw their faces. Suu looked positively sick, she was so downcast. And Kazuhiko's eyes were blank and disoriented. Watanuki had retreated to the kitchen table, where he sat silently with his head in his hands. In all of them, I saw a melancholy I hadn't seen before.

Kohaku.

Beside me, Umi had risen also. She stared at me, pleading with her beautiful doe eyes. "Please, Kurogane..." She whispered, so hoarsely that it sounded pitiful to my ears...completely unlike her. "Please, don't do it."

And then I saw Fye.

He was standing with the others, his shoulders slack and his eyes gray with worry. He was looking down at the floor. When my eyes met his image, he lifted his head, and the scarce light of the room fluttered into his gaze, and reflected back to me like a clear mirror. In his eyes, I saw myself...bleeding from the lip, a crude and difficult man, haunted by one conflict after another so that he hardly knew which one to tend to. 

But in his eyes, I saw a resolution. Though he didn't do anything, he didn't have to. His glassy eyes made me turn to Rikuou again, and made me reexamine myself. 

I loved him, and he refused to tell me what was wrong. Kakyou, lonely without his mother, was utterly forgotten. These things weighed down on my heart, but Kohaku was the problem right now. 

I lacked the focus to see one solution through. And in this, I kept creating havoc for myself.

I didn't need to make myself a bigger grave.

Kohaku first. 

"Somehow...in you, I see a resolution. I always seem to," I murmured, without consciously realizing that I was saying it aloud, until all eyes turned to Fye. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I'm not able to share your pain. I'm sorry that you have to suffer your past alone. But I won't leave you this way. You know I can't."

His lips curled into a bitter smile, and a thread of interlinked tears flashed across his face. His empty stare had come alive with the pervading cold of those tears, and he shuddered, sleek chains of watery pearls cascading from his eyes. 

I reached out a hand to him. 

Turning away, he disappeared into the crowd of Scavengers, and retreated to some silent hiding place. And my hand returned to caress that epicenter of torment...just above my heart. 

What will it take, Fye...? Are you never going to believe me? You've hurt me. Goddamn it, you've hurt me, Fye...

"I won't believe that I'll never get through to you. Through pain, through passion, through everything...I see through my words. I will. You will not..._will not_...suffer alone. And neither will I."

I turned back to Rikuou, feeling no better for the great length that I'd just gone through, and silently helped him off the ground. He was reluctant to accept my hand, and I myself was sapped of strength and almost too weak to offer it. But eventually, he was on his two feet again, with an additional lift courtesy of my loyal niece. 

Heaving a great sigh, I glanced at Gingetsu. "So...where's your pathetic floating turd?" 

-

A few minutes later – record time, really – I found myself preparing to row said turd away from the harbor with Suu in tow, just as I'd anticipated. But what I hadn't anticipated was the fact that a fog was slowly settling into Heliotrope Isle as well. All around the beach was a thick blanket of humid moisture...clearly the wind was blowing our way, which did shit for my rowing speed towards Tudor. 

The entire crew was there to see us off, everyone except Fye, which I noted with chagrin...which Kazuhiko noted with similar chagrin. 

Yuuko, tireless as always despite her constant hacking and coughing, was carrying our luggage to the boat. In a hurried fashion, Hideki emerged from the bleached mansion, carrying with him a first aid kit and a couple of flashlights. His face was red from all the legwork. 

"Sure I can't go with him?" He asked Gingetsu rapidly as he dumped off the cargo. "If someone's gone and kidnapped Kohaku, he'd be better off with me around!" Having lugged his share, he quickly assumed an exaggerated fighting stance, his eyes shining even in the dense mist. "Besides, Suu has wings! She doesn't have to help row the boat, so she can fly her way to Tudor, can't she?"

This evoked several groans from the others. Kazuhiko chuckled while glancing affectionately at his bird, currently sporting another ruffled dress with laces innumerable. Oy vey. 

"No can do. She can't fly her way to Tudor in this dense cloud...she's liable to get lost, and then we'd have two missing Scavengers on our conscience. Besides, she hasn't flown long-distance anywhere since we'd found her. I wouldn't feel right, risking it. I think it goes without saying that if all three of you, plus Kohaku, plus the cargo, are loaded onto the little dinghy, it'd sink for sure."

The teenager bowed his head, pouting his lip and looking generally dejected. "Sorry. But I...I wish I could help you guys somehow! I care about Kohaku a lot, too!"

"Hideki, don't look down. It's a nice sentiment and all, but you've got about as much machismo as Suu does," I remarked, smirking a little. There was no one who could cheer us up quite as quickly as our blunt little country bumpkin fresh from high school. He was dense, but, for fear of sounding clichéd, his heart was in the right place. Heh. "Thanks anyway. You're right...we sure could use you on Tudor. The place is huge as hell. With two of us, we could split up and search..."

"Don't be too kind. He can't find his way through a city if his life depended on it," Gingetsu was quick to reprimand me. He scratched his chin. "I hope you didn't forget the batteries for those flashlights, Hideki."

"Oh, shit!"

We all shared a quiet laugh as Hideki dashed back towards the mansion like his heels were on fire. It wasn't the first time he made such a mistake. And for sure, we would've laughed much more enthusiastically had the time been right. But the time had rarely been so wrong.

"You okay?" Suu finally broke the silence in her quiet, melodic voice. It wasn't until a few seconds later that I realized, from the expressions on everyone else's faces, that the question was meant for me.

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' us, Kurogane. You've been nothing but trouble," Yuuko grinned widely, almost teasingly. "You know, you've given us more bull in the last two days than you've ever managed to rack up within a month on the boat."

I sighed, a hollow sound tinted with melancholy, and grinned half-heartedly. "Yeah. We've got to get that damn boat fixed, don't we?" 

"Come on. You'd better be taking this seriously!" Kazahaya leaned over the dock, putting a small furry hand on my shoulder. His eyes were practically glowing with concern. No one was quite as bad at lying as Kazahaya, with the possible exception of our ronin Hideki, and I could tell that he truly cared. "All this trouble with Fye, and you really haven't told us a thing! I know you usually don't share your feelings, Kurogane, but we're getting kind of scared for you – you and Fye, too - and..."

"It's all right," I reassured him.

They didn't look reassured, but they nodded sullenly anyhow. There was a long, uncomfortable pause. 

"He's not coming, is he?" I murmured quietly.

No one answered. They didn't want to provoke me anymore. The thought of him not even bothering to say goodbye to me didn't rest well with me regardless, though, and I think I would've screamed if a welcome distraction had not made itself known. 

Strangely enough, it was Rikuou who decided to save me in the midst of the thick awkwardness, a wretched stew of silent emotions as deep and foggy as the spreading mist...  

"Watch for the red flags, Kurogane. Look to the map. Don't get lost," he told me gravely, pointing ahead. Even with the moisture limp in the air, I could still see the floating red flags on the water, a trail linked by rope that directed ferries to the commercial extravaganza that was Tudor Isle. "We'll take care of Kakyou on this end, all of us, so you just watch out for yourself. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

I looked at him curiously. For a moment, I thought his eyes...Rikuou's eyes, hardened by years of living on the streets in the mainland...had shown some flicker of emotion. I let it go. But I knew that he wasn't just chatting about the weather. 

"Thank you."

Aw...what heartfelt emotion!! ^-^;;; Hopefully, I can do better than this lethargic melodrama. But you know, you never can tell. Maybe this is my best...for now, anyway!

The next section of the story – at least, the very end of it - is pretty important (After 15 chapters, a plot starts to rear its ugly head! -;;; Gosh...words cannot express how lousy I feel for dragging you guys along for such a huge period of time!), so stay tuned!


	16. Lost Child: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Author's Notes:_

There's going to be a bit of a scuffle...! ^-^;;

Action scenes? I can't pin down a good action scene if my life depended on it. Sad, but clearly true. I think everyone saw my pathetic attempt to evade writing about Hinoto literally bringing down the house in the second chapter. ^-^;;; (I can't do situational comedy either...eheh). Unfortunately for me, there is a teensy weensy bit of action that I'll have to at least skim through for this chapter. I hope that it'd come out all right! Because it's used to accentuate a plot point, it has to be done at least acceptably. (Stress! Eek! -;;)

I promised one rant. That's all. ^-^;; Until I get some new characters, there will be no more! Muahahahaha! -;;;;

CHRISTMAS BREAK!! ^_______^ Can't believe it's finally here! My family's going to a restaurant on the jolly day itself, and on said day, my friends and I are going to catch ROTK in theaters! Whohoo! Support the industry, everyone! The box office has been flagging this year, as everyone knows (it's on your conscience, I know it is...^-^;;), so if you've got a ten in your pocket, you know where it's going! I can bet that you guys have seen the two "Lord of the Rings" movies before this. I sincerely hope that you guys at least plan to see this one. Totally awesome! (Happy mania...excuse my behavior. -;;; I feel so ashamed...! Heh.) After I see this one, I'll probably start ranting again. I promise a brief analysis!

Okay. Now, back to the story!  

Chapter 7: LOST CHILD 

_ Also known as_

_"Kurogane and Suu's excellent adventure"_

_Part 2_

Suu had this awful habit of turning away and preening whenever she was confused. 

"Suu, can you see what's up ahead?"

"Um..."

Preen, preen.

"Sssuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." Ow, my vein.

"The fog is very, very, very..." Suu turned back to me with her wide evergreen eyes, pausing at the word that she failed to describe in her limited human vocabulary. As such, she chirped a helpless diving note, and with her nose scrunched up with confusion, continued to repeat the first adverb she'd ever learned. 

First priority when I get back to Heliotrope, I'm going to spank Kazuhiko for teaching her – that – word. 

"Very, very, very..."

Oh, for Christ's sakes...! "Thick? Dense? _Foggy_, even_?_"

This produced fervent nods from her. Well...better than watching her suffer. At least now she knew a new word. And whenever Suu learned a new word...

"'Foggy'. The fog is very 'foggy'. Very, _very _'foggy'," she added, as though for effect.

"Right, right."

"I cannot see through the very 'foggy' fog."

"Right..."

We kept on rowing through the foggy...er, dense, fog. And Suu was right...this was getting kind of ridiculous. The mist had reached such a high concentration now that I could hardly see the next flag up ahead, even with its blazing red. Clearly, this mist had started to unravel itself all across Heliotrope as well, covering everything in a swirling, ghostly cloud.

It was looking particularly dangerous from our end. The sea, dark as wine and treacherous, was tough enough to navigate through when there was no fog – as we'd all learned through Hideki's misadventures. Um. But with this sort of weather phenomenon, getting lost was a starkly real possibility. I mean, I could see the rope beside the boat, the rope that connected the flags leading to Tudor, but even that was becoming kind of vague. Even for Suu and me.

Both of us had sharper-than-average vision. Mine was giving out, and even Suu's was reaching a point where objects in the distance became more than a little vague. She might've been able to see Tudor...the outline of it. But she probably couldn't tell it from a rock.

We didn't pass by a single other ship today. Navigating was a bitch on this particular day, and we just happened to figure that out a bit later than everyone else. I don't think I need to tell you that this is typical bad luck for me. I just had to make sure that I kept an eye on the rope, and didn't let it pull a vanishing trick on me.

Meanwhile, my mind wandered back to...

"Fye?" Suu suggested.

"Gaaaah!" I sputtered, and the left oar flew over the rope, landing with an ominous splash on the other side. My flailing hands struggled to steady the rocking boat, gripping its sides as though my life depended on it. "Goddamn it, Suu!"

Bitch...! This little – this is not funny! First Gingetsu, then Yuuko, and now even Suu's turned on me! Everyone around me is a frickin' Nostradamus! 

"How the hell did you know that?" I glared at her with wild, panicky eyes, never minding the fact that the lost oar was slowly drifting further and further away in the current. 

Suu smiled sweetly.  
  


"I have seen this look before," was her pacified answer as she touched my face. She did this often. It was her affectionate way of telling one that she cared for them. She often touched Kohaku's smooth cheek whenever she talked to him...a symbol of an almost...maternal love. 

And a profound sadness hid behind this gesture, too. Her skin was cold, and her eyes seemed to see everything at once, understanding even when there is no proof she understood.

Suu...

If intelligence could be measured in ruined dresses, then maybe...just maybe...I'd be able to perceive how damn smart you really are. 

Your eyes aren't like mirrors, not like Fye's; your emotions are hidden in an imperishable bottle, somewhere in your heart. Your eyes are like barred windows. Somewhere inside you is a soul that reaches out to people...that reaches out to Kazuhiko, that reaches out to me, whenever I'm alone. 

"You look this way after you see Fye. Your eyes look like...stars," she decided, her large sensual eyes glowing with warmth. "Just like stars. There is...a song in you." Her fingers pressed down lightly on my chest, where my own fingers had lingered not so long ago. Right above my heart...and she nodded with conviction, the warmth of her fingertips breaking through, even in the cold chill of the mist. "Yes. A song."

"A song..." I echoed, completely taken aback by her sincerity, her beauty.   
  


Suu was no child. 

How can she understand...so well? 

No...she wasn't psychic. Probably not. But she was perceptive. She was almost too perceptive. Her choice of words was strange enough. But they seemed to strike a chord within me, a strong reception in my heart...as though my own eyes were barred windows, too, concealing a kindred spirit...

In that moment, surrounded by fog, I stared at her face, unmarked by age and youthfully shy – a beautiful maiden, just like Kazuhiko had always said she was – and I reached out to her, as well. It was a revelation. My thumb grazed her doll-like face. She looked so fragile that she could almost break underneath my touch. 

"You know what it's like to be alone, too, Suu..." I whispered. 

She put her arms around me. Her smile was genuine. I hadn't seen a genuine smile on a lovely face in a long time...too long a time. And so I surrender to her embrace. While the oar slides away into the distance, on the rolling humps of the waves, passing away into slivers of turquoise and gray, we hugged each other tightly, utterly alone...together...

...Cradled in a humble dinghy, on a sea of dreams.

-

It was tough enough to get to Tudor, but tougher still when you don't have two oars in your hands. We were halfway there at least...I knew we were. So Suu devised another plan of action.

Yes, Suu did this. The idea was accredited to her genius, not mine. All those times that Umi had said that I was useless were definitely coming back to me. I was humbled. I was amazed. Thankfully, Suu wasn't a braggart...nothing like that. So I helped her as much as I could.

Watanuki, being an all-around lifesaver, had the intelligence to pack a rope inside the bags. ("Just in case we have to climb a steep cliff on the way," I'd mocked when I saw him loading it in. Evidently, I knew shit.) With a little bit of effort, Suu managed to tie one end of it to the helm of the dinghy, and looped the other end around her waist, making sure that the knot was secure. 

And thus she took off, flying in the general direction of the red flags, right above the water and right in front of the boat where I could see her. A dinghy itself, despite its small size, was a pretty hefty load to lug, but a boat on water was slightly easier to pull. And so she pulled. Did I mention that she did this _against the wind_?

Suu's strong wings carried us through the rest of the way in record time, believe it or not. I would never let a lady do all the work, of course, so I helped out with the leftover paddle, but...damn! Suu was seriously strong. Kazuhiko wasn't kidding.

We eventually docked at Tudor Isle without much hassle. 

Tudor was a commercial utopia. It was much larger than Heliotrope, but still relatively small, all things considered. When we got to the docks, they were clamoring with boats of all shapes and sizes...luxury liners, petit fishing boats, passenger ferries, and the like. It was a kaleidoscope of society, encompassing the rich, the poor, and all the straggling in-betweeners in a bouquet of color.

If you ever needed to understand the lifestyle on an island, you'd be pretty damn smart to go to the marina. Stay for an hour – even a few minutes – and you'd get yourself a comprehensive plethora of life on your particular floating rock. It isn't only comprised of the market, but also of the entertainers, the relaxing visitors, and the traditional beauty of the isle before it was inhabited. 

The beach was completely blanketed by people. It was no summer, but commerce was everywhere. It was such a stark contrast from the utter silence of Gingetsu's mansion that it made me stagger blindly for a while, trying to get my bearings. Suu and I sat in the boat, watching the bustling crowds, taking in the scent of garbage and phosphorus, listening to the sickening crowing of the seagulls. 

At least there's the fog. At least there's the fog...at least it protects me from seeing all the shit they'd done on this godforsaken... 

All of this and more, Suu and I experienced. After we'd tied up the boat and set out on foot, I had to keep holding her hand, just so that she didn't go wandering off curiously into the constantly jostling void. In the end, I didn't have to worry much about that. After passing a gaggle of flies buzzing around a ramen noodle vendor, and a bunch of rogue bikers crashing a store window, she clung onto me willingly. I could feel the poor girl shudder. 

There was trash everywhere...feces and vegetable matter and shreds of newspapers, all crunching underneath my feet in a gooey concoction of madness. The more I saw of this complicated mess of human waste, the more I grimaced as I walked Suu with haste from the harbor. I felt like I was trying to protect a child from an obscene sight.   

That's exactly what it was, though. I hadn't seen anything this degrading for a long time.

Why the hell did I ever let Kohaku here alone...? If you didn't know you were insane before, Kurogane...

The best thing I can do now is to not let Suu get entangled in this...

It wasn't even this bad on the mainland, in the streets, living with the strays and the rats. When I was trying to make a living off my art then...damn it, it was so hard. The crowds were dirty like swine...filthy with money, and pride also. But this makes that look like a damn Sunday school matinee...! 

Kohaku...

We wandered further and further in, always together. 

I didn't trust anyone. The beggars on the street were leering at Suu with their lecherous eyes, and there wasn't a single policeman in sight. My eyes surveyed the roads, bleak and obscured by fog as they were, and tried to compare them to the map that Watanuki had packed for me. Of course, it could be damn troublesome finding your way when some sick bastards had hacked off the road signs with a frickin' machete...! 

The skyscrapers rose up in defiance against the iron gray sky; phallic and menacing as they were, I managed to notice them, and traced my route around the city based on them. The buildings, their lengths varying and caked with grime, jutted out from the black earth like the bony plates on the spine of a felled beast.    

The more I saw of Tudor, the more I hated it, and the more I hated myself for allowing Kohaku to go alone. Had I known about the fog, had I known how ugly this city on the water was...I wouldn't have sent Suu with him. I wouldn't have allowed either of them to see it. 

It was a splitting image of...no, not hell...of the mainland, before the Rebirth. 

I'd seen pictures of it, from back then, and even though I myself wasn't a part of it, I hated it. Conglomerates, the paper smorgasbords of advertising, a business extravaganza...the country was carpeted with a metallic virus. It was disgusting...and in a perverse way, I was glad that the Rebirth occurred, glad that the people of the mainland turned into hollow deformations of their former selves. Glad, most of all, that the tourists left and the land became safe.

Serves them right. Serves them right to be so greedy. Serves them right that they wouldn't be able to earn their market paradise, their Garden of Eden with cubicles row on row, and mall rats and garbage and bloody crime... 

Serves them damn right. 

The reason why Tudor was so damn successful, even after the Rebirth, was a matter of geography – its location was its greatest asset. It benefited from being just close enough to the mainland so that valuable commodities could be sent over by boat, and at the same time, just far enough from it so that the ignorant majority would think that the radioactivity from the mainland would not be able to waft over to it. That was wrong, you see, but the government wasn't known for kicking propaganda anyhow. So that was how it was.

And because of that, this was what Tudor became.

-

We stopped at a huge highway intersection in the "downtown" area, if this tiny shitwad could be said to have one. Taking a seat on the pavement at the side of the road, being mindful of the bustling activity all the while, I looked over to Suu, whom I allowed to perch on the lamppost beside me, after making her swear she wouldn't run off.

(That wasn't good enough, by the way...I made sure to tie my wrist to hers using Watanuki's rope. A bird can promise you the world, but it still has wings to fly. I couldn't risk Suu becoming distracted...)

"Suu...can you see or hear anything from up there?" I hollered to her above the traffic and the din of the conversations around us, as passerby ignored us, moving along in a mass of furry shawls and leather gloves. The whole street reeked of mustard from the deli and cigar ash, and in the fog, I could see her form stir.  Yeah, she heard me. "Can you – smell – anything from there? Kohaku...is there any sign of Kohaku?"

Peering up, I could see her form leaning forward in all directions, clinging onto the lamppost with both hands and her wings raised, in case of a fall. Her poise was that of a hawk surveying its territory. All about her, her dress billowed, the frilly white folds stirring in the humid air from the occasional breeze, the material shuffling every which way. But Suu did not stir. 

Eventually, she shook her head. 

"I cannot smell or hear Kohaku with so many people around!" she told me, a dejected look on her face. Grappling the lamppost harder, she flung her hair away from her face, narrowing her eyes with determination. "I will keep looking!"  

I cursed angrily underneath my breath. "Damn it...where can he be? If we can't find him from the core of the city, then it's hopeless..."

Then something occurred to me. 

"Suu...you can't smell him, and you can't see him or hear him. But can you _sense_ him? Maybe, like a sixth sense, if you'd close your eyes...I mean, if they think that cat mutations can do it, then maybe birds...?"

I have never wished more strongly for that idiot theory to be true...

Suu made a small but distinct noise of frustration, and didn't bother to turn away from her scrutinizing of the city. "Kurogane...! You are...angry, yes...but do not be silly. If you close your eyes, can you 'sense' Umi? If a human can 'sense' a human, there would not be lost children." 

And that was that.

"Well, you can't say that I didn't try – " I muttered, but was suddenly cut off by a shrill squeak.

"Kurogane!" Suu called to me as she leapt from atop the lamppost, glided awkwardly above the blight of oncoming traffic, and to my horror, soared into the thick of the crowd on the other side of the concrete river. The fluttering of her ridiculous dress became muffled in the sounds of the resonating voices, and she, too, disappeared in the sea of bodies. "I see something!"

The rope I'd tied onto my wrist – and hers – was severed with a dry crack. 

What just...? 

My heart skipped a beat. My eyes widened painfully, as I gaped across the intersection...half expecting her to turn back sensibly, half expecting to have made a mistake. It all happened so quickly that I could barely register it in my mind. And I turned this way and that, stupidly expecting to see her again. 

From the top of the lamppost fluttered a single blue ribbon. I caught it in my hand, staring at it numbly, recognizing it as the one that laced her loose stocking.

But she was not up there. She was...she was...

She's...

I couldn't see her.

-

Instantly, without thinking twice, I rushed after her, diving into the thick of the congestion. Refusing to wait for the lights, I dashed across the highway, through the honking cars with their incessant flashing lights, across the intersection and the deafening roar. 

A shimmering red Mercedes skidded on the sidewalk as I passed across its windshield, running madly. It crashed into an old flower shop on the other side of the road, spewing smoke and bouquets of deadly fire. Around me, I could hear screaming, and shouting. 

Leaping across the last lane with barely a look over my shoulder, I plunged into the crowd, now stirring with surprise from my reckless run.

"Suu! SUU!" I cried breathlessly as I pushed the inert bodies aside, struggling to see, the repetition of handbag and suitcase and winter attire burning into my eyes. "Where are you? Goddamn it, answer me...!"

Even after nearly getting killed in the rush hour traffic, the people around me refused to budge...save in the opposite direction, to see the perversely enthralling flames from the dying automobile. All these bodies, pushing and thrusting...! A delirious dance of mayhem. But in my chest, my heart beat more violently than anything happening around me. It was killing me. 

A steel boot crushed my foot, but I kept running. "Suu! Please, answer me, Suu...!" 

And it never seemed to end, never seemed to stop. A flash of light passed across my weary eyes...my head was pounding with terrible pain. I forced my way through a cement block of fur coats and drab grays, always trying not to be crushed, always aware that I could be trampled, never knowing whether it would end around the next turn or...

"Suu! God, you careless little bitch!" 

Then I saw her.

Upon coming to the first frail dress-clad body, I immediately lunged, enfolding her in my arms and muffling my own voice in her ruffled sleeves. Two curious green eyes stared past her shoulders and into my eyes, and I knew I'd found her. 

I knew I'd found her, and the world seemed to dissolve into a muted calm once more. 

It's all right. It's all right...she's here, she's in my arms, I can touch her face, and it's all going to be okay...

She's really here. Is she really here...? Yes...yes...she's here, she's here...

And reality bit me instantly.

Oh, hell, it hurts...! 

I collapsed onto the ground. My heart was throbbing, licked by tongues of fire. In my imagination, my ribcage became a steel-plaited bear trap, hindering me from breathing. My legs were burning from the inside out, eaten away by the pain of the dash...I don't remember ever having run that fast my entire life. I had my head in my hands...

Stop the pounding, stop the pounding...Suu's all right, now...

...And my ankle...my ankle felt as though it'd been flattened into a bloody pulp...

I don't want to. I don't want to look at it, I...oh, God, there's a blood puddle...it's trickling, it's...

"...gane...?" Suu's voice was muted inside my throbbing cranium. I strained my ears once more, straining to catch her words. She had her arms around me, and I could see her face, pale with worry. "I...so...! Sorry! Sor...please forgive...! Are...all...? ...So pale! Kohaku...they...feather...dropped a feather..."

She held out her hand to me, close enough so that I could clearly see what was inside it.

It was a brightly colored feather...slightly darker than the ones she grew, almost a red orange. I'd seen feathers of that hue before, I remember...on the very tips of Kohaku's wings. Suu wore a weak smile as she brandished this in her hand, and I imagine that my mouth must've opened a slit, in painful recognition.

"It is Kohaku's feather..." the sentence became clearer this time, Suu's soft voice ringing in my ears. "There is a...a..." She hesitated, her evergreen eyes closing, her brows furrowed as she racked her brain for the right word. She preened her left wing thoughtfully. "A string...? A link? A road...?"

"A t-trail?" I attempted, my voice hoarse and crackled. 

Please say 'trail'. Oh, please, please, let it be a trail...! 

"Yes...!" She nodded, and pointed. I could see behind her that there was a scattering of feathers, the same color, all down the sidewalk. Some had been trampled upon, but they still maintained the same route. "A 'trail'...! A 'trail' in the 'foggy' fog!" 

As if to make me understand what she was trying to say, she pointed to her wing, upon which dewdrops had condensed, and the feathers became sticky and moist. And I remembered that she looked a bit more awkward flying today than she usually did. "Feathers in the 'foggy' fog!"

It was a revelation. 

Yes...yes, that's right...Suu would know. She's a bird. She'd know...! 

When there's fog, there is too much humidity for a good strong wind to pass through. The feathers are damp and dewy...so they don't blow away as easily when there's a trail of them...! And so this trail...this trail of Kohaku's feathers...it would lead us exactly to the right spot...! 

I hugged her. I was never so certain that anyone was an angel on Earth. 

-

With me in tow, Suu made her way through the crowd. Putting her arm around me, she was somehow able to support my overbearing weight with her skinny body, all the while pushing through the multitudes with a resolute glare such as I'd never seen on her before. Briskly, she bulldozed through the street, following the trail.

The young girl had always seemed like a delicate flower to me, wide-eyed and pristine, always submissive...who knew that she could rise to the occasion this way...? She was shouldering the entire mission, with this intensity in her eyes that shocked me...

I hate having to acknowledge I'm wrong. Hate it to death. But I'll have to do that; first thing I get back, as soon as I find Kazuhiko, I'd have to. The guy has good reason for spending so much money on her, even if it is just to buy meaningless sh- 

God...that ankle...! 

"Ugh..." I gasped, hissing, stifling a howl of pain. An intense jolt of it had worked its way through my spine instantly as I tried to twitch my toes. 

Not going to do that again, not going to do that again...

Come on. Walk. Walk...! 

My ankle was still bleeding...it bled as I dragged it along the sidewalk, block past block, trickling its inexhaustible supply of the red fluid. A varicose vein in my foot must've popped, I told myself, but I refused to acknowledge it, biting my lip and hobbling along with my good foot while Suu clung onto me, fearing my fall. And she had good reason. 

I felt nauseous...it was as though my head were being pried in two, slowly and with a searing hot scalpel...I could hardly think straight. The noise about me dissolved into meaningless jargon as my head swam, eager for silence, and yet unable to stop. Unable to stop, because if I did, Kohaku would've been hurt, and Suu would've been hurt, and I...I wouldn't have anything to distract me from the hellish pain, not even a chase...not even...

As the sickly dark blood from my swollen ankle continued to splatter all about, and people started to take notice of our struggles – just when I least wanted them to, the cold bastards! – I realized that something really sharp was protruding from my foot. 

It was jamming the blood flow, but its end gnawed deeply into my flesh, and the little bitch was causing a ceaseless torture the likes of which I couldn't describe with the expletives I know...! 

I know that's a bone splinter. I know that...t-that must be a bone splinter. Shit. Holy mother of God, that can't be good...

Goddamn...damn it all...damn it all to h-hell...got to keep going...Suu...Suu, keep it up, please, for a bit longer...for a bit...

Please find K-Kohaku. 

And just as my vision became dotted with speckles of angry flashing whites and yellows, my parched throat gagging on phlegm, Suu – little miracle that she was, bless her – pulled me into an alleyway. Littered with trash and multitudes of garbage disposals everywhere (Ironic...but wasn't everything?), it was a setting made for mystery. Under the mist cover, without any semblance of light cascading from above, we were surrounded by perfect shadow...but not utter darkness.

So quiet. It was empty, all save...save a couple of shapes, at least...

A couple of...? 

"Suu..." I began my question in a desperate whisper, but couldn't finish, for at that moment, she placed a finger over my lips, her eyes pleading for silence. 

And so, in silence, we snuck away behind the largest of the garbage disposals, where she set me down with the utmost care, looking frightfully over at my leg, now strewn with uneven ribbons of red. I closed my eyes, trying hard to get my bearings with this atrocious pain in my head...the rate of my heartbeat was at its limit...

I needed to escape from this, but I couldn't. I couldn't...I had to bear it.

A hand shook my shoulder.

Please...please, not now...not now, when I can't breathe...! 

The shaking became more frantic. I wearily acknowledged it, opening my eyes, my throat instinctively gasping for air, but unable to do it fully, naturally. It must've been subconscious awareness. I didn't know why I wasn't breathing myself, until I heard it.

Someone's...talking. In the alley...in this alley...someone's talking behind us. 

We're hiding, aren't we, Suu?   

My bleary eyes asked the question for me; they bore into my winged companion, imploring some sort of explanation. I could feel my chest becoming more and more heavy, uncomfortable without air intake at all. In response, Suu gestured to the feather trail we'd been following. 

It lead around the dumpster we hid behind. And I knew, suddenly, that the voice I heard belonged to Kohaku's captor. 

"Do not speak. Do not look!" Suu mouthed silently. "But listen...!"

And I did. I listened so hard that I could almost forget my injuries, my lack of oxygen, my battered foot...because I was so frightened for Kohaku...so scared for him that nothing else mattered.

-

The tension could've been cut with a knife.

Footsteps.

"No! I do not k-know...!" 

It was Kohaku's whimpering voice, and I could've sworn my heart had shattered at that moment. Kohaku knew infinitely fewer words than Suu did. That phrase of denial had been one of the only things we'd taught him, his only weapon for defending himself. My hands had unconsciously balled into fists when I'd heard this, and my skin turned sheet white, as he repeated this sentence over and over in his teary entreaty. 

"I d-do not know...I do not...please...I..." His voice broke down into meaningless syllables, as sobs gurgled from his throat. 

In that moment, I knew I wanted to kill whoever was doing this to him, whoever was sick enough to try and hurt Kohaku this way. He was a child, as beautiful and cheery as any of the children I'd ever seen in my life...and innocent. So innocent.

It made me want to scream.

Who would do this...? Who would do this to Kohaku...? 

"Kouryuu...we should let him go." A woman's voice...with a touch of hesitation. So there were two of these assholes. 

All the more revenge, I thought to myself hatefully, and continued to concentrate on this voice, burning it into my memory. I was going to remember this woman's voice even if I died trying. 

"He does not seem to know."

"Huh? Why should we, Chitose?" A sneer. A masculine voice...the voice of a conceited child. "There's so much fun to be had with someone so pretty. Even if he doesn't know, we ought to keep him. He's like a little doll, isn't he?"

A doll. 

That's what they think. 

Suu held up her arms in a gesture of placation, to stop me from striking. "Do not move!" She mouthed. I knew she was right, but I hated her for being right in this situation. 

Cruel...too cruel. And Kohaku...he must be scared to death...

I need to do something. 

"Besides, you can't judge him by his smile; he could be a treacherous little bastard, this," the boy went on coyly, unaware of our existence still in his self-important drone. He chuckled nastily. "Remember Fye?" 

My eyes flashed in exclamation.

What...? 

"Fye was like this kid we have in our captivity here. A pretty face, no one could deny it, and a delicious body, but even now we don't know how many secrets he'd stowed away inside his head. Smart, wasn't he? Heh. But he, like our angel, wasn't immune to a certain amount of..."

"Don't go on about Fye." The woman named Chitose reprimanded him quickly. "None of us knows what had happened to him. If anything, he's probably dead."

A scoff. "Come on, Chitose, you can't believe that he's _that_ weak, even now..."

"Don't. Please, Kouryuu." The voice became firm, authoritative. 

There was a pause.

"In any case, we lost Fye, and that was that," the young man mumbled defiantly. "But we won't let this one free. You might think otherwise, Chitose, but we know without a shadow of a doubt that this here...is the one and only angel who's been to the missing island. To Siren Cove."

Dun dun duuun...

I am soooo sorry if Kouryuu and/or Chitose are out of character...^-^;;; But there's a reason for that! They aren't normally put in these types of circumstances, are they? I'm just trying to make the best out of what I know...which isn't much, but I swear that they'll get better! S-Seriously! Please believe me...? -;;


	17. Foreordained Destiny: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

Teehee...goofy chapter titles are fun. ^-^ Parts 17 and 18 of the story are called "foreordained destiny" because this phrase was coined in X ("Their destinies...are foreordained!!" Bwahahahaha. ^___^;;;), and a certain X character will come to say it in the chapters after these. (Think big eyes. Big beautiful blue/violet eyes, sometimes roan red. Not a bad butt to boot. God, I'm hopeless. ^-^) A certain _few_ X characters, if I get my way. I don't feel like a braggart divulging the fact that a lot of crossing over shall be done after these chapters are over, because I might not get them right. A Gouhou Drug character here, a Tokyo Babylon character there...ehehehe...but I won't talk about that now. 

What I am really here to talk about is ROTK. No, not Romance of the Three Kingdoms. -_-;; 

(Actually, I quite like the other ROTK as well! Zhuge Liang is a very smart man. Always did like him best. ^-^ The LOTR characters aren't so different from the ones in Romance, but in any case...digression, digression...)

Don't worry, no big spoilers here. (Surely you'd gotten enough of those from reviewers!) It does mean, however, that I won't be able to elaborate on my reasons for liking this film very much. But that's not what you guys care about...! ^-^

The Return of the King is as awesome as the hype made it out to be. It's as long as they say it is, too. I won't deny that it really had felt like three hours and a half, because telling the truth about this movie is my way of respecting PJ. ^-^ But although it is long, fear not – exceptional scenes are spread throughout the whole damn thing. I found myself slack-jawed in awe for a long time. A long, long time. And I couldn't stop talking about it on the way home from the theatre. (My friends kind of ran away from me...^-^;;;) While there were flaws in the movie (which do include some exaggerated slow-mo scenes, but don't include the ending, which summed things up splendidly), what the hell would I be doing talking about them? 

I didn't cry during the movie, no...but if you haven't seen it, and are considering seeing it, bring tissues. Just in case. There's no shame in crying when a movie this grand is able to focus on the emotions of hobbits so small. It's a cinematic achievement, indeed. Perhaps people won't realize it right away, but I'd be kind of confused if this doesn't become a favorite trilogy a few years down the line. Hell, if The Matrix could pull it off...

Even without tears, there were some very sad moments. Sam just about broke my poor little heart in this film...he was that good. He's very brave this time around, taking a leadership role that he'd been too timid to take on before. His loyalties to Frodo had endowed him with a strength he never knew he had. And when left to his own defenses, he finds that he can triumph magnificently. Good on you, Sean Astin! Snag an Oscar for all of us at home! And Ian...Ian as Gandalf was a revelation. His smiling eyes and his commanding presence...no one else could've played that role, methinks. ^-^ 

Other worthy mentions: Elijah, who did justice to Frodo's haggard state; Dominic and Billy, who brought real courage and independence into the roles of Merry and Pippin, respectively (showing how formidable they can be when separated); and Andy as Gollum...oh, dear. What to say, what to say? Truly demented, and wicked good at it. ^-^;; In this installment, I found it hard to pity him where I'd pitied him before. He really dug his own grave, poor devil. The entire cast was splendid, but not as good as the above; I think these guys deserve special recognition. (It occurred to me that Denethor particularly could've used a little less gusto and a little more depression. That's just me, though. ^-)

The battle scenes weren't just notable. They were...wow. Words don't really do justice, do they? I'll say this, though. I don't even like battle scenes. They're a bit too frantic and crude for me. I like duels. I like intimate showdowns. (This is me speaking as a proud member of the female population, of course. One of the real feminine ones. ^-^;;) But this one blew me out of the water. The CGI was fantastic. Not seamless, so to speak, but it's hard to impress with the same fuzzy Wargs. (They looked more real this time around, though!) The fell beasts are pretty tough on the ears, but God...what power!

Now, I'm as much of a fangirl as the next person. I'm not a teenage pseudo-intellectual closet fanatic, and I don't pretend to be. (Wow, that's redundant. -_-;;) No. I've learned that accepting my fangirlishness is just as important as establishing my identity as a person through my intellect. And with that in mind, I'd like to divulge a few hormone-driven observations. 

Frodo's face is beautiful...more beautiful here than anywhere else in the trilogy. It's practically worth the price of admission. ^-^ (Don't like his baby fat? You sick, sick person, you. -;;;) Elijah is blessed with a pair of lovely eyes, and they glitter like crazy. I love them to death. Legolas is also beautiful, but in a very different way. Quite feminine, and elegant as hell. I love Sam best, of course, but Orlando Bloom is breathtaking. No, it's not an exaggeration. I started out being a Leggy fangirl, and this movie reminded me why I obsessed over him for some four...five months. -;; (It's good incentive for other Leggy fangirls to revisit their fantasies, also.) But Samwise was very charming, also, so I'd still like my fat hobbit, please. ^-^;;  

So, what can I say? Haven't seen it yet? Go see it. I mean, now, like...right now. Whenever you get the chance. You don't want to miss out on all the inside jokes after the break. ^-^ I never knew how pathetic the turnout for movie theatres were this December until I got there, so supporting the box office is a must. (The screening I went to had what must've been only twenty people in it, and a group of my friends, who branched off to see The Last Samurai, said it was pretty much the same on their end...it could be because it was the 24th, but I wouldn't risk that if I were you.) Bring no popcorn. Overpriced as it is, and it'll only distract you. Be sure to take a bathroom break before you go. ^-^ You may feel fidgety through some moments, perhaps, but I don't think you'd regret the experience as a whole. Nope, not likely at all. ^-^

Chapter 8: FOREORDAINED DESTINY 

_ Also known as_

_"Kuro, come home!"_

_Part 2_

To Siren Cove. 

At the time, I was too concerned about Kohaku to think twice about what they were saying. Siren Cove...it wasn't a name that was familiar to me. It was hardly familiar to anyone, come to think of it, considering how well the government had hidden it. 

A little island, far away from the coast, beyond everything...

I should've known about it, I think. In a vague way, I knew about it ever since I was too young to speak, though I didn't remember why. And in an even stranger way...I'd been connected to it ever since I was born...

Kohaku, and Siren Cove...? 

My mind struggled to piece this information together. 

Kohaku...Siren Cove...and Fye, also...Fye...

There was no resolution for me. One piece of the puzzle was completely hidden from me.

Eventually, I would come to realize what Siren Cove was. I would remember it. I would remember it with the startled look of a man who'd been sleeping on it his entire life. And I would inwardly curse myself for not remembering it sooner. Because, in so many ways, it was what tied everything together: Fye's past, Kohaku's abduction...

And Suu's shiver.

I saw Suu shiver beside me when Kouryuu said the name of the island.

I didn't know what it meant, so it had no significance for me. I could've done worse. I could've ignored it altogether. I could've not reached out to her, and mouthed whether or not she was okay, but I did. I could've turned away and forgotten about it as soon as she shook her head and told me she was fine with those cold lips, but I didn't. 

I kept my eyes on her, worriedly. "Are you sure that..."

"It will be all right," she told me, in those soundless syllables that wafted through the air, and then there was nothing. Her breath caressed my face. She heaved a trembling sigh.

I could've not seen it. And then I would've never known.

Shirou Kamui said to me once, after this terrifying encounter, that everything was foreordained. There's no escaping destiny. One cannot be grateful that something occurred, because there is always equal sadness to whisk that gratitude away. No life is easier than another. Karma, he said, was the reason why he wasn't grateful for anything. He let his life run like the inevitable winding path of a river – a damn turbulent one, in his case. In a way, he...drowned in his life.

I didn't like it when he told me that before, and I still don't. Kamui had it a lot harder than other people. It was difficult to trust his words, because I knew it was his way of protecting himself, justifying his sad existence. He'd bent his philosophy to his own needs, never mind the needs of others. He's a gentle kid, but he can't afford to worry about anyone other than himself. He couldn't. He knew that if he worried about anything other than his own fate, he would bring misfortune on other people's heads.  

I don't believe in destiny. But I do believe that some people need to believe in destiny, just like Kamui, to find reason and order in their life. 

I'm not sure what I believe.

But everyone around me pretty much figured it out without me. Yuuko told me this. After the events that followed this trip to Tudor, they knew in their hearts that learning of Siren Cove...was my destiny. 

-

Chitose's voice was gentle, almost patronizing. "We don't know anything about the bird who flew to Siren Cove. It may be this one, but..."

"Don't give me that shit. There're only so many birds on the mainland, and almost all of them have I.D., but this one doesn't. There is about a one-in-twenty chance that this is the one we're looking for. That's a hell of a lot better than the odds we started with when the boss told us to start searching. Plus, you remember that eyewitness account a little while ago, around the time the Scavenger convention took place?"

There was a swift rip of material, and a scream from Kohaku. 

"That little blonde girl from the mainland with the huge spectacles told us that she saw a bird in the distance. She couldn't see its face, but it was wearing a white dress. A white dress! And look at this!"

My heart was pounding violently. Sprawled out on the ground, I gripped my chest with my hand. My leg throbbed angrily. Thinking that I was at my limit, Suu put her arms around me, and hugged me tightly to keep me from making any sudden movements, but to no avail. It was too much. 

Kohaku...he's wearing white today...! 

"STOP!"

-

A sudden lurch, and I was up. The ground swirled around me as the maddening pulse in my heart grew quicker. Then the pain shot up my leg like a fierce thunderbolt.

"Argh...!"

My damn foot! 

I couldn't command my foot...

I staggered, nearly collapsing to the ground, but Suu's strong arms were around me, and she hoisted me up with force, and I averted my eyes from the ground, struggling painfully to focus on the blurred shapes before my eyes. My head wouldn't let me concentrate, the pulsating was so strong, and my last coherent thoughts fizzled into twinges of red heat. 

What...I...no, I...Suu...Kohaku...! 

The figures were immobile with shock. My eyes were so plagued with yellow and white dancing sparks that I could hardly make out their faces. I couldn't tell who was the one named Chitose, and who was the one called Kouryuu. Then one backed up, knocking over a garbage pain in haste. 

"Who the hell is this crazy asshole?"

At the very least, I knew...somehow...who was going to get pummeled first. 

I couldn't tell where Kohaku was. I searched the alley, not knowing where concrete met wall and brick met garbage. It was all a swirling, inperceptible void of stinging fireflies to me, and I...I couldn't think...

C-Concentrate, Kurogane! For Kohaku...! 

And or one excruciating moment, I focused all my senses so strongly that there was a moment of blinding clarity. My acid-washed vision recovered for three fragile seconds, in which my body put out its maximum strength and I tottered between utter control and total weakness. It was terrible, the burn of my wound, my head...but in those three seconds, I saw Kohaku, limp in the corner, battered and bruised, tears spilling all across his shocked expression.

"S-Suu..." he blurted, his surprise dissolving into utter relief. His bloodshot eyes eyed us with unfathomable gratitude, and he struggled to get up. I could see, in that moment, the cuts and bruises on his face, the blood streaming down one ear, his torn robe and his dirtied hair. "Ku-Kurog-gane...!"  

"Ko...Kohaku..." I whispered breathlessly, as my vision gave out once more. It was enough. I freed my arms of Suu's embrace and reached out towards him. "We're h-here..."

"Come!" Suu gestured, a tired but determined smile on her face.

But before he could stand up and rush towards us, Kouryuu kicked him away. His boot collided with the innocent face and Kohaku fell again, crying hysterically. A heel mark marred his face, and he began to bleed. 

"Don't you dare try and get away from us!" 

It was enough.

"Kurogane!" Suu screamed as I lunged forward instantly, as though spurred on by whips at my heel. Though crippled, I leapt forward, unable to see but knowing without a shadow of a doubt the direction. With an almost feral roar, I reached out my hand, groping blindly for a collar...and found one. 

Before I could even see whom it was I'd grabbed clearly, I sank my useless foot into the flesh of his leg with a deafening crunch.

"AAAAAAAAARRGH!" 

There was fear in every note of his howl as he tumbled to the ground. Kohaku shrieked. Behind me, Suu sobbed, covering her eyes. The noise rose up around me like a hurricane...I didn't know what I did. I must've been screaming endlessly...the trails of blood, spilling and spilling like a crushed dam...

A fragment of bone fell to the concrete as I collapsed, utterly frozen, unable to think of anything. The wound was beyond description. I honestly thought that I was going to die from it. It felt as though my forehead was going to splinter from all the screams exploding from within me...and my leg...I could hardly feel it, it was so consumed by the fire...!

I knew my foot had dislocated. A terrible concussion...I didn't even know why I used that foot as I hobbled towards Kouryuu, unthinking, driven by instinct...

The impact had knocked it to the side, and blood was streaming from my ankle. I didn't dare move. I didn't dare speak. I wanted to scream....my mouth was aching to scream, to release the rage and terror from within me. But only a fragile gasp severed itself from my lips. 

And with that last attempt, I realized that I'd used all my power. Kohaku had to be safe...but I couldn't help him anymore...

"Chitose!" Beside me, I heard Kouryuu moaning breathily. Evidently, I'd done a solid job with a crippled foot...I'd probably kicked the right nerve to send him squirming...though I couldn't think about that right then... "Chi-Chitose...help me! Help m-me!"

A trail of blood ran down beside my face. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it slide by my cheek, warm and bitter. I knew it couldn't have been mine...so it must've been his...

He's bleeding...bleeding! Bleeding...

I wasn't able to think. But I knew the blood meant something.

Chitose, in the meantime, did not seem to move. I heard Suu's footsteps, right next to my sprawled body...she was coming to check on me...slowly, so slowly...the woman must've had her eyes on her...no sudden movements, Suu...S-Suu...

"A startling turn of events...!" A breath, startled and pondering. "Another bird...! What is your name, little girl? Is it Suu?" 

"Let Kohaku go," Suu said brusquely, her voice cautious and defensive as she bent down toward me. I could feel her warmth around me. It was the only thing that kept me from fading away into unconsciousness in that thick, undulating fog. The fog all around us...a mystery...but in that mystery, I knew one thing clearly, without even having to think it.

She was shielding me with her body.

It occurred to me vaguely at the time that the woman could've had a gun...that Suu could've died. Eventually, when I could think straight once more, it became an intense aftershock, a guilt that resisted being erased with startling strength. Chitose...I never knew whether she carried arms with her that day. I couldn't see anything. My heart was about to give out. 

I was like a fetus in the womb, completely blind. But utterly in pain, as though I was being electrocuted from the ankle up. A white, hot spark that numbed me entirely...

Chitose didn't do a thing. It caught Suu off guard, because I could feel her tremble. The woman simply stood there, regarding her. In the silence and the mess before my eyes, I could almost sense something...something terrible happening in that pacified mind...

"So...there is more than one bird we haven't taken into account," she said softly, almost sadly, with a voice that sounded hollow and...almost...guilty for what she'd done. Tired. She was tired. She didn't make any move to advance herself towards Kouryuu...ignored him entirely as he hugged his legs on the ground, groaning gutturally. 

No steps. No movement. Suu's heart seemed to have been stifled with fear. And in the background, the tears of a victim. 

"And what a lovely dress it is you're wearing. I had thought that perhaps this was not the one." She must've meant Kohaku, who was sobbing relentlessly. "He does not seem strong enough physically to have made it to a place as far as Siren Cove. Tell me. Are you the one we seek?"

Silence.

"I am." Suu finally responded. Her voice was level, and deathly quiet. 

"Suu, isn't it?"

"...Yes."

"And your friend is Kurogane."

"..."

"No...you don't have to answer that. It's quite all right. I can recognize my own relative when the occasion arises. He's got fierce eyes, Kurogane...such a strong jaw, and he's so tall." The voice became soft...almost nostalgic. "What a handsome face. I haven't seen him in ages." 

W-What...? 

I'd thought I'd heard wrong. I thought I was delirious. And I wouldn't have been able to think otherwise, ever, had Suu not told me differently. Another pause, and then the words I never thought I'd hear from her.

"I won't pursue you, Suu...nor him. I think I owe it to a family member. You may take Kohaku back." 

The light sound of delicate footsteps on the pavement. The small creak of high heels, as the woman kneels down before me. Suu makes no movement to stop her, though her grip tightens on me. 

"Chitose - !" Kouryuu's scream. 

She was right in front of me. Her face...I could make out...

Try and see...you have to watch out for her...you've got to see her! 

You have to learn to recognize her...know her face...for the sake of...the sake of...

...A pair of inquisitive eyes. In that moment, though nothing else in front of me made sense, I realized that this must've been a beautiful lady.

"My Kuro-chan. How you've grown. But you still have those fierce eyes. Do you remember your Aunt Hibiya?"

Black.

-

A rocking motion...

Am I at sea...? 

I struggled to open my eyes. 

The fog was clearing, slowly but surely. Above my head, I could see speckles of golden sunlight, melting into the waves of water droplets in the air. A dancing spectacle. It was utterly quiet, save for a few seabirds, which had flown out overhead, soaring with their damp wings across the boundless stretch of dark foam, thrusting to and fro. The sky was by no means clear, but it was a welcome sight compared to the dreary gloom Suu had to work her ass off towing me through.

Suu...?

Suu! 

Immediately, I flung myself up, my eyes wide with fear. My mouth was gaping open, and without my consent, before I could even think, I was screaming. "Suu! SUU! Suu, where the hell are y - aagh...!" 

My foot. 

"No, Kurogane!" A familiar face turned to me, and two warm hands cupped around my face. I suddenly realized that my vision...my vision was clear; because I could see his enormous amber eyes, his folded wings, his wounded face...everything, every detail. Somehow, I'd recovered. Somehow...

"Kohaku...?" I whispered weakly, breathing raggedly as though I'd awaken from a terrible nightmare. My heart was leaping in my chest, and a faint memory of the burn from the run returned to me. My head, my hands...they shone with cold sweat. 

Did I dream something...? Something awful? I-I can't seem to...remember...

My foot...God, it started bleeding again...

Damn it, I can't think about it now...! 

I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing his frail body tightly. Tears welled up beneath my shut eyelids, and I bawled, unafraid of what he'd think, completely giving into my utter relief. I couldn't believe it...I couldn't believe that the body I held was his, that the soft, thick hair I ran my hands through belonged to the angel Kohaku...

It was like...catharsis. All of the emotions from the past few hours poured out of me like a roaring waterfall, and I couldn't stop...I couldn't stop...

Kohaku...

Vainly, he tried to comfort me, patting my back with his long fingers, hugging me back. But he, too, was devastated with fear and intense sadness. I could feel his shaky breath on my neck, his tears falling to my already dampened shirt...dampened with a deep red... 

"Kurogane...K-Kurogane..." He kept repeating in that sobbing voice, that voice so unlike our cheerful Kohaku...

His clothes were stained with blood, and cuts and scrapes were all over his milky skin. He had no words for the horror he'd gone through, and neither did I. All we had were our tears. 

Our tears...but are those enough...? Are those enough to describe what I'd seen, what I'd heard...? 

I shook my head, the salty liquid streaming down my face. "It's okay, K-Kohaku. Those bastards are gone now. It's all o-over...all over..."

There was a slight thump in the boat.

Over Kohaku's shoulder, I could see Suu landing inside the dinghy once again on her light feet. She'd been pulling the boat all along, and I gasped in shock when I saw her. Her appearance was gruesome. A black rim marred one evergreen eye, and a stream of dried blood ran down from her temple. Her cheek was slashed by what looked to be a knife. 

"I did not think that Kouryuu would get up so quickly..." She shrugged, a sad smile on her face. Evidently, she'd been crying, too...

"Suu..." I mumbled pitifully, trying to reach out to her, but she raised a hand to stop me.

"Do not move, Kurogane. That foot must stay where it is." She pointed to my wounded foot, which I winced to look at. It was completely askew...my slamming it into Kouryuu's leg must've crushed the ankle joint, so that it faced the other direction. It was mottled with dark blood clots, and a thin white bone jutted out from the thick of the injury. 

I narrowed my eyes...my mind had been playing tricks on me. It was a damn tiny thing...hardly worth worrying about, roughly the size of a fingernail. But that didn't make me feel much better.

Suu had slung my foot over the edge of the boat while I lay unconscious, so that most of the excess blood dripped over the side. She must've dragged my ugly carcass all over the place, trying to return to the docks...then, by some miracle, still had enough strength to take off while Kohaku and I rested. 

Such a brave girl...I can't believe how brave she...

She came face to face with death today, and somehow...

It was close. It was too close. We could've both d-died. I underestimated them...that skinny brat, and that woman...the woman with the beautiful face that I couldn't see, but could somehow know...

"Suu...what happened back there...?"

"Hm?"

"She...that woman – hell, what's-her-name...she was talking about you...about some place called Siren Cove, and...and how Kohaku had seen it...and...she called me her _nephew_...do you...do you understand...? She and that kid even knew who Fye was...I'd always s-suspected that he was in danger, but..."

A deep sigh of regret wafted from Suu's lips. Suddenly, her face seemed to look terribly pale...and old...my eyes widened in a sudden panic...

"Suu...do you know them? Suu...hell, you can't mean..."

"Sleep, Kurogane. Sleep and become well again."

And though I was reluctant to obey, my eyes simply shut with a dim bang. 

-

Sunlight. 

Before I knew it, I'd recovered from a dreary, dreamless sleep. I was lying somewhere. Not the boat...somewhere warm, and bright. I thought to myself that it looked a lot like the mansion...and it was. There was a window close beside me, and...the fragrance of flowers... 

And some obnoxious little bastards hovering over my face...! 

"Is he awake? Is he? Is he?"

"Kurogane...! Kurogane, get up – "

"No! Don't disturb him – "

"His foot wound is really ugly. We don't really want _Yuuko _to bandage it, do we...?"

"No one else knows how to treat a bone splinter – "

Not in the mood...entirely not in the mood! 

"SHUT UP!" I flung out my fist and socked the squirming face closest to me, right between the eyes. Struggling to focus, I figured out that it was Hideki...now more than a little bit sorry about what he'd done. Two bright eyes blinked uncomprehendingly, rolled back into their sockets, and the entire bumbling mass crashed to the ground in a heap of cheap clothes and sneakers. 

I blinked as I realized how hard I'd slugged him. Holy crap. One down...

"Gaaah!" The little munchkins scattered away from the bed in an instant, pulling their chairs away with a unanimous screech!

"OW! Frickin' a-holes!" I roared, blocking my ears. 

"Hideki - !" Umi immediately bent down to the ground to fan away at his head, kicking at the slumped carcass for good measure. "Come on, you big dolt – "

"You know his temper's the worst when he's just awake..." Watanuki shook his head at them, a pathetic grin on his face to illustrate his honest relief, "...Broken foot notwithstanding. Don't stand so close next time! Still, at least we know he's back to normal..." 

He stood up, carefully avoiding the two on the ground. "I'll...um...fetch some food for you. You didn't eat anything during the trip, and probably didn't drink water, either. Be back in a bit, Kurogane." 

Watanuki...always an observant one. I must look like shit. 

"Come on!" He tugged at Umi's sleeve, prompting her to look up. "We'd better get out of here. You know...give him some time alone. You want to stay, Kazuhiko?"

Kazuhiko, who'd grabbed a chair near the bed already, nodded in his direction, glancing at me. "Do you mind if we talk a bit? You might have some things that, maybe...you want to filter out of your system? You must be tired, so if you don't want to talk, it's okay..."

"Stay. It's all right." I was in no mood to decline anyone. He was right...I did need to speak.

Watanuki acknowledged this with consent. "Suit yourself. Hideki, wake up!"

"H-Huh?"

"Get up. We need to leave my uncle alone," Umi told him quickly, grabbing him and slinging him in Watanuki's direction. 

Watanuki supported the weight, but barely. "Gaah! Oww...why do I always have to carry the baggage? First with Yuuko - " 

"Baggage?" Hideki pointed at himself indignantly. 

Scampering quickly over to the bed, Umi gave me a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. She surveyed my face with a troubled glare. "You should be able to take care of yourself better than this, Uncle! But I'm not going to blame you yet. Just don't get carried away with the heroics anymore, okay?"

"No trouble. I won't." I easily lied, just to see her smile a bit again. It sounded real strange, considering my mood about a week ago, but there was nothing I wanted to see more than Umi's big blue eyes at that point. Nothing else reminded me more of home...not even the sight of Kakyou's leaves. Not even Fye.

And I'm certainly not prepared to see him yet...not until I get my act together. 

"Okay..."

"I'm glad you're okay, Kurogane!"

"Eh...same to you, Hideki."

"Just going to leave for a while..."

The door shut. Suddenly, there was a whole vacuous gap between the two of us left in the room, and the tension was odd, abnormal. The blaring silence consumed everything.

"So...how are you feeling?" Beside me, Kazuhiko questioned gently, breaking the awkward gap. As though I didn't see that one coming. I would've reprimanded him for saying something so damn clichéd, if his eyes hadn't shone with genuine concern. Granted, since I'd smashed one major body part... 

"You'd been sleeping for ages. Everyone was waiting on you at first, but then we decided that one of us should look after you at a time." He shrugged helplessly. "Hideki happened to be on shift when you started mumbling in your sleep."  

I raised an eyebrow grumpily, retracting my fist back underneath the warm bed covers. "I was _what_?"

"Mumbling," he repeated, frowning a little. "Something about a 'Chitose Hibiya'...mind telling me what that was about?"

For a moment, my mind drew a blank, and I just stared at him stupidly. The truth was that I had a million answers in my head. Chitose was a criminal. A kidnapper. Maybe even just a hallucination. But nothing seemed to befit her. So I found myself stuck, thinking about was how I'd mumbled about her in my sleep rather than about the important topic at hand...her identity...

Damn. That shit never happens usually...

I thought I wasn't dreaming, but I guess I can't help but think about it. I could've been talking in my sleep about Kouryuu as well. But that woman, she...she frightens me. I don't understand it. It's as though I know I have to watch out for her. Nothing else matters so much. But why? 

I don't even know who she is...

"It's been a tough time for you and the rest of them," Kazuhiko answered for me, seeing as how I had no immediate answer for him. He slumped back into his seat worriedly. "You don't have to answer. We haven't been able to get much more out of the others, either. Kohaku is still napping away while Yuuko treats his wounds, and Suu's more hurt than she lets on. She fainted by the time she got here."

"How is she? Is she all right?" I blurted out in alarm. 

"Whoa...be careful. Don't want you to get a stroke. She's fine. Seriously." He reassured me, winking. For a moment, he seemed content, thinking back to his lovely bird. "Do you think there's anyone here who cares more about her than I do? She's even walking around the house now. She's a trooper."

"Can't argue with that..." I breathed deeply, staring him in the eye with a fear and a powerful conviction. "You were right to like her so damn much, Kazuhiko. This may be the only time I'll ever say this to you, so I hope you understand that it isn't meaningless drivel. Suu is a goddamned angel if I ever saw one."

Kazuhiko raised his eyebrow clear above his forehead in disbelief, but smiled amusedly nonetheless. "Uh...huh?"

"Damn it, take it seriously! She saved my ass back there when I was too powerless to do shit to help myself. I never knew she could be that strong, that determined. She's smarter than I gave her credit for, and she defended me even at the risk of her own life..." I gripped his arm. "You don't know how lucky you are to have her, and I regret ever thinking she was an idiot. She's a precious one, Kazuhiko, and don't you forget."

He blinked, amazed. Clearly, I'd convinced him that I really admired Suu. A pure and unadulterated truth can convince anyone, and even though I'd never had this sort of respect for Suu before, I'd learned something precious that day. So when he looked to my eyes for confirmation, he could see no deceit. 

I genuinely fell in love with Suu that day.

I shook my head tiredly, getting the feeling that I was about to say something so difficult that – if I doubted it at all – would not come out the way it should...the way I wanted Kazuhiko to hear it in. 

"Today – more than a few times – I was jealous of you. Even...even in a platonic partnership with her, I could feel the warmth radiating from her eyes, and it touched my heart. You're one lucky bastard. At the back of my mind, there's what happened today...every terrible detail, and the realization, over and over, that it would be so much easier for someone like me if I'd fallen in love with a girl like her." I swallowed painfully. "So much easier...if I'd loved her and not Fye."

"Because she understands what it is to be alone, too," was Kazuhiko's cool answer. 

"Y-Yeah."

"It's a shame that you love Fye so much, isn't it?"

"I know I belong with him. I don't regret it. Suu...to be with Suu's a fool's hope, because I know she belongs with you. Fye needs me, even though he might not say it. Fye needs me to save him. But Suu...she saved me today."

Kazuhiko thought about this for a while. His eyes were contemplative and sad as he gazed at me.

"I'd never thought about it, but Suu's perfect for you."

"Not for yourself?" I was startled.

A decidedly firm shake of his head. "Oruha was my someone. No one could fit better. I love Suu. She's beautiful...and so gentle. In so many ways, she's perfect for you. It would be a match made in heaven."

He smirked a little.

"And yet you decline it?"

I do. He could see it in my eyes. I'd have declined it without a thought if Fye had only tried to accept me. 

Suu's strong. She didn't need me. She needs someone to mend, to heal with her embrace, and that someone is Kazuhiko, even if they aren't perfect for each other. But Fye's so embroiled in his past and his mistakes, whatever they might've been, that he needs me more than anything. I'm the only one who can save him. 

I'm his entire world now. His only escape. And I won't let him die drowning in the past...! 

"Guess it just goes to show how much you love him...ne?" 

I nodded.

An awkward pause.

"So...anything happened while I was gone?"  

Kazuhiko seemed to tense up at this. He closed his eyes firmly, as though something was plaguing him from the inside, clawing at him to be let out. And I found doubt and worry creeping into my heart once more, just as it did when I set out to Tudor Isle.

What is going on...? 

"Well. Now that you've brought up the subject..."

Not bad. Long, it certainly is, but not so bad. 

So, the mystery begins! Who is Chitose Hibiya? What is Siren Cove? And will Fye and Kurogane ever get it on? ^-^;; Silly Billies, just look at the rating! Of course not!

Don't chuck your tomatoes yet, though, because the crossing over starts next time around! ^-^

At this point, the story gets more complicated. I'm bound to make plot mistakes, because I don't ever read my work over. Hence some unfinished sentences and meaningless blather here and there. -;; I'm no great writer, so if you ever see a plot hole or some sort of grammar mistake, please be nice and tell me about it! Unlike certain people (Chad Kroeger, I'm lookin' at you! ^-^;; No offense to Nickelback fans...) I can take criticism well enough so that I don't resort to angry ranting! So please help out! ^-^


	18. Foreordained Destiny: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

This chapter might be a bit looooooooooooong...^-^;; Have to squeeze one reference to CCS in!

Chapter 8: FOREORDAINED DESTINY 

_ Also known as_

_"Kuro, come home!"_

_Part 2_

What happened while I was gone...? 

But before Kazuhiko could answer, the door slammed open, and in clambered eight huge purple octopus tentacles that could've only belonged to one person. 

Crap.

"All right, kids. Shut up and listen," Yuuko immediately crossed the room, a malicious grin on her face, wielding a huge syringe. She was looming over my foot in an instant, and I shuddered unwittingly. Yuuko meant well. I think. But she easily scared the shit out of me, and with a needle in hand, her presence was even more menacing than usual. And if that's not saying a lot...

"Boyfriend needs to leave. Now." She shooed at Kazuhiko with one toed tentacle, to his disgust. But looking over at him, I couldn't help but notice, with some degree of suspicion, that he was relieved not to have to tell me the news right away. Something seemed wrong...not that I could've worried about that right then, mind. "You don't want to have to look at the pulpy mess when I'm done with it. I'm pretty sure you'd rather gawk at Suu. She's in the next room, healthy as anything. If you run quick, you'll get to touch her bandages."  

She made a few exaggerated kissing noises with her lips, then threw back her head and laughed, the sound reduced to hacking coughs in an instant as she doubled over. Kazuhiko looked at me sympathetically, scratching the back of his head.

"Uh...would leaving now really be a good idea?"

"Get the hell out," I muttered good-naturedly. "Don't need your damn charity."

"This is a very ugly wound..." Yuuko told me as soon as she recovered, pounding her chest a little as Kazuhiko made his speedy getaway. She almost seemed to say this gleefully. It's part of her...vibrant personality. "We're going to have to do something about this, aren't we? Hehe..." She rubbed her long, gloved hands together. 

"That's an anesthetic, right?" Wincing, I pointed towards the syringe. I'd never been good with needles. I think Yuuko knew that. "Please tell me that's just an anesthetic..."

"That's right, sweetheart. But that's not what we're going to be using right away, now, are we?" Her eyes gleamed. 

I paled. "Then what – "

From her first aid kit, she drew out a whole bag of the little papery yellow packages that I despised more than anything else in the whole of the free world. It was scary to think how such tiny things could evoke such fear. But it did a hell of a job at making my blood curdle.

Oh, no. Oh, goddamn it, no, NO - 

Taking note of the horrified look on my face, Yuuko smiled devilishly, shaking the plastic bag so that I could hear every miserable package tumbling around. "We'll be using the alcohol wipes first. Your foot is huge, so we're going to need all of them. Every – single – one." She cackled loudly in my face. "HAHAHAHA! And no wimpy anesthetics!!"

Rip went the first package, and I screamed like a murder victim.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! GAAAAAOWWWWWWW!! NO, NO, PLEASE! AAAAAAAAARGH!!"

-

I don't...need to tell you...that the half hour was hell.

Yes. Half an hour. Yuuko spent thirty minutes – one thousand eight hundred excruciatingly painful seconds, which is exactly one thousand eight hundred more than actually necessary – torturing my permanently traumatized foot with the evil known as...alcohol wipes. And yes. She went for the bone splinter. Dug deep, too.

I think you can tell that it...was deliberate.

After the anesthetic injection (this woman...jabbed me four times...without hitting a single vein...), I refused to exchange words with the eight-legged monster. Doctor's degree graduate, my pimply ass. 

"Come on, Kurogane. What the hell do you want from me?" She quipped jokingly as she twisted my foot to the right side with a sharp crack, grunting a bit in blatant disapproval. The blood had started to flow again as soon as she fixed the angle of my backwards joint, and I kindly averted my gaze. It didn't hurt me none...though I was kind of wondering morbidly whether the injection was really anesthetic or tap water...and I laid back gently.

Not going to speak to you at all, you crazy bitch. No, no. Not that dumb. 

Yuuko read the look on my face and shook her head amusedly, reaching for the cotton puffs on the side and pressing them down hard on the bright leak. But I was assuming. I noticed with a vaguely nauseous feeling that the color of her nails was the same hue as the dried scab on my foot. That wasn't really surprising, though, considering that she looked like a damned corpse. 

Maybe it was just the loss of fluids that made me woozy...it had to have been kind of serious when you got used to the color of your own blood...

"God. I was kind of hoping that this bloody scab would hold off the rest of the spray, but it looks like there's more left in you. You're the worst of the three I've had to see today. Tough." 

She looked up at me with mild curiosity. She had that Cheshire cat grin on her face again, I could tell, as she brushed her long black hair aside. "Did Kazuhiko tell you what happened while the trio gallivanted off into the distance on their wooden steed?"

I glared at her indignantly. 

Shit! I'm not going to open my mouth...but, but...

Urgh...taking advantage of a stupid situation...! Yuuko's too low for words...  

"I don't suppose he would've," Yuuko muttered in an all-knowing manner, a grin on her lips. 

She was taunting me. She knew I knew this, and she used it to make me even more curious. Swaying her hips lightly from side to side, she waddled back and forth, chuckling; and all the while, her clever eyes were on me. She was like a purple pendulum. Swinging. Swinging. She would've been a tantalizing thing to look at if she was a few years younger with long legs. But as it was, she was more than a little scary. Damn the thought.

"Tsk, tsk. That's no – good – at – all, now is it? Kazuhiko really didn't say? He didn't say at all? No fair for cute little Kuro..."

"Just...tell me what happened," I muttered indignantly, surrendering before she could get any closer to me. It was fair to say that she was inching closer, yes. "And leave me the hell alone. Don't – " I reached out a hand to block hers, " – Don't touch me. Don't. Get your manic self away from my head. No. No, I know what you're planning to do."

Yuuko loved touching people, and it's no lie. While it's true that she usually prefers to touch pretty women (hence the reason Suu's skirt always needs to reach below her knees, Kazuhiko tells me), she also quite likes running her long hand through a head of hair...anyone's. Mine was no exception, bristly and unkempt as it was. 

Well...small price to pay for not letting her grope me, anyhow. Ugh.

"In any case..." She sidled next to me, sitting with a coy smile on the side of the bed, "Someone came while you guys were gone. Quite sexy, I might add."

Someone - ! Hold on...

"Eh?" My interest piqued. Carefully, I raised an eyebrow, completely unsure of whether or not she just lied to me. She never was easy to read. But there was no reason for her not to tell the truth...she'd already embarrassed me enough. "Someone came...? You're kidding..."

No one comes to Heliotrope. No one. The dock is never used, save for the Pufferfish and the ferry going in a crescent around the isles. Heliotrope is private property; only visitors like Umi are ever dropped off, by special request. 

Umi's family. But strangers come once in a blue moon. It takes a week to get here by a good ferry. No damn rowboats would make it in less than two. Why the hell would anyone...? 

And if that were the case, they'd have had to make it through the fog...

I couldn't keep the glaring disbelief out of my voice as I glanced over at Yuuko. "Who...who was it?"

"It was an inspector from the mainland." 

"Oh...?" 

Inwardly, I was glad...though being glad that Kohaku got hurt wasn't exactly an opinion to voice out loud. But I was glad that he and Suu weren't with the others. It would've been too much hassle. 

Whenever inspectors come from the bureau on the mainland to see whether our Scavenger crew was doing well, there was always trouble. Always. We'd have to hide the fact that both Suu and Kohaku were unregistered; the fact of the matter was that both of them should've become lab rats by now. They would've sent our asses to court, and the two birds would've almost certainly met their ends by experimentation. Even now, they were looking for a cure for the effects of the Rebirth, and new guinea pigs were in short supply.

Yuuko must've read the expression of relief on my face, because she patted my back gently...something she'd normally never bother with. Her eyes held a touch of sadness. 

"Hard to believe that a whole year has passed, and the inspection time has rolled around again. In an offhanded way, you saved us. Remember that one time when we sent Suu and Kohaku away by train to hide at Ran's place? And there was that other time when we had to keep them in the sewers; Kohaku was bitten by a giant rat and we thought for sure that he'd caught rabies." 

She smiled tiredly. "But the fact of the matter is that this time, we're stranded on an island with a boat that doesn't work, and a fog that we can barely see through. We would've been dead if it hadn't been for that incredibly stupid thing that you decided you had to do. We would've all been thrown in jail. Fortunately for us, someone was molesting Kohaku, and so by a miracle, we're safe." A yellow-green smile. "Thanks to dumb luck credited to someone other than Hideki for a change.

"In any case, the inspector came with a bunch of his lackeys, and they found shit to pin us with. So you'd think they'd leave. But instead, they took Kazahaya with them and sped away into the distance." She sighed. "So now Gingetsu's kind of pissed."

I sat up with a start.

"What...?"

Yuuko played with the strands of her hair with a bored look on her face, enunciating the words loudly. "They – took – Kazahaya. You know, perky little kid, blond hair, kitten eyes? The bane of Rikuou's existence?"

I couldn't believe it. "But why the hell would they – he never did anything – "

"No, he didn't, except being born a cat specimen. Apparently, the inspector was a veterinarian, so he was qualified to do a bit of a check-up on Kazahaya. Earlobes, finger joints, the likes. He also checked Watanuki. Then his assistant took the two of them, and did a bit of a telekinetic experiment."

Telekinetic...? 

Then it occurred to me.

The CLAMP Campus medical journal.   

"They thought Kazahaya and Watanuki were psychic...!" I whispered, hardly comprehending what it was I'd said.

The medical journal was only a vague speck in my memory, and the only reason I recalled it at all was because I didn't believe a word of it. It wasn't enough to make me take it seriously, and it wasn't enough to make me take this news seriously.

"I don't believe you."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Suit yourself. But everyone heard him scream. They could hear him screaming like he'd caught on fire in the locked room. The assistant, Sumeragi Subaru, sent some sort of mental signal to the two of them. But only Kazahaya reacted so strongly, and it was almost enough to sent Rikuou bashing the door down.

"They'd expected that. Sakurazuka Seishirou – the inspector – told me that since Watanuki isn't as badly mutated as Kazahaya, and so he didn't have the strong powers that come from being partially cat. There's no question that he is also psychic, but he only sensed the brain wave as a funny sort of itch on his forehead, so he didn't need to be experimented upon. But Kazahaya was one of their strongest cases, poor kid. Few others could feel the signal so strongly, and not only did he feel it, but he saw, momentarily, the thought projected by Subaru."

I blinked. "What was it...?"

To this she rolled her eyes. "Some girl with long blonde hair. A bevy of bishounen. The end of the world.

"So now, because of that, he has to accompany them to the mainland. Pity." Yuuko eyed me with curiosity, as I still was unable to move. "Doesn't sit well with you, does it?"

Well...

"I..."

My throat was bone dry. I didn't know what to say in response. In a corner of my mind, I knew that paranoia from the previous excursion was marring my good judgment here. But the mainland government...what I knew they did to unregistered specimens...it didn't feel right. Kazahaya was still a kid, and more vulnerable than he lets on.

If it's true...true that this sort of mental plane exists...!

"Are they – are they collecting cat specimens all over? Not just around the isles?"

"All over...so they say." 

It was incredible, and it frightened me into silence. 

Everywhere. They're collecting them everywhere. 

So it's not only Kazahaya I should be frightened about, it's...

"Yuuko?"

-

"Well, don't just stand at the doorway," Yuuko waved good-naturedly, turning around to greet him. "Get in here, and bandage his foot for me, damn it. You can put the plant down on the coffee table. Doesn't really help him recover, Kakyou being here, but whatever floats your boat, sweetie."

Fye smiled congenially back at her, and put Kakyou down as directed. The plant, flourishing despite the recent lack of water, was turned towards the sun, and it basked in its radiance in front of the towering windowpane. It was good to see it again. The scent of its bark brought back the atmosphere of the day when I'd first clutched it in my arms, completely stupefied and crying uncontrollably. Those were happier times. 

Fye then turned to me hesitantly. It was clear that his smile waned a bit, from fear. Neither of us could say anything to each other for a long time.

"Hey," he finally whispered, sitting down beside me. He was wearing all white, and in the brightness of the sun, he shone like an angel stepped off from the threshold of the clouds. 

I felt like I hadn't seen him in an eternity, it'd been so long since we'd saw each other eye-to-eye. And I realized the truth behind my conversation with Kazuhiko. I would love to have fallen for Suu instead, but I didn't realize how much I loved Fye. He was...everything to me.

Was he always this beautiful...? God, I'd forgotten. I'd forgotten the reason I fell in love in the first place. 

Those sad blue eyes...

It was hard to imagine it, but I was everything to him, too, and I felt it as he clutched my hand. It was a warm sensation, and I couldn't help but smile weakly. 

"Hi."

Ugh. My voice sounds hideous...

"I saw it when they carried you in. Your leg was completely caked with blood, so I wiped it away." He glanced at my foot. "Guess I should get to bandaging."

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Yuuko placing a finger over her lip. With a last coy look, she quietly lifted herself off the bed, and crept away. It was amazing how much respect she could have for people when she tried. But something told me that she'd be most likely to be peeping in secretly later...

Damn sneaky bitch. A shame that we love her so. 

"It's a stupid question, but...are you okay?"

I gazed at him, his porcelain face, his unflappable gentleness, and I found my mind wandering into a jumble of thoughts. It hurt my head, to think so much. But I knew I wouldn't stop thinking them until I got these emotions in order, and found a way to ignore...

To ignore Fye?

It was a strange feeling. 

Could it be...? Could it be that the same perfect face had been crying only a few hours before, when they'd took my body from the boat? 

Did you cry for me...? 

I hope you weren't hurt when you saw me. I hope...well, I hope a lot of things, but...damn it, I don't want to hurt you. Not ever. Not if I can help it, Fye. And I promised you I wouldn't leave you alone. 

I wish to God you didn't think you'd be left alone when you saw me there, lying motionless. I...I wouldn't be able to stand it if I let you down, even for a second...! 

But I couldn't say any of these things. I knew I couldn't, because it wasn't the time or the place for brash romantic gestures. If it'd been tiring for him at all, I wouldn't want to evoke his tears. It wouldn't have been right. It'd been so long since we'd just stayed together like this. 

I know it isn't natural...we haven't poked fun at each other for a long time, so I know that the stagnant silence, pregnant with all these repressed thoughts, wasn't natural. It was only temporary. A temporary curtain, maybe, to shadow another dramatic change, something else that could tense us up and quicken our heartbeat...that's all this is. And I knew it, because that sinister thing from Fye's past wasn't done with us yet. It wouldn't be done for a while yet. 

But I knew when something was too precious to let slip, and this moment was gold to me. 

To sit here, grasping his hand, knowing – somehow, knowing – that we were together for this one moment, bound by some small measure of happiness...

Don't break the illusion. 

"What happened to you, on that island?"

I was momentarily disengaged from my thoughts. There was a strangled note of urgency in his voice that I'd never expected to find, and I looked up, half expecting to find him in tears. 

But no, of course not. Fye was stronger than I gave him credit for. His voice betrayed him, but his face was still serene and unmoved. There was nothing different in the way that he held my hand, the touch he possessed. His smile was still the same awkward smile. He was still Fye. One boat ride wasn't going to change how he felt about me. 

But it changed my own perspective so much...damn it, I can't believe I actually thought he would change - 

But he didn't, and in the end, I did think that. It's a bit much, exaggerating this. All I got was a broken foot, and I thought I'd undergone hell. Looking back on it, I...was kind of silly. Must've been the adrenaline drilling itself into my goddamn head. 

Somehow, during this extended hiatus between me and Fye...all this intense thinking about what I would do had led me to believe that he was some kind of damsel in distress figure. God, that was wrong...completely wrong. Just because I love him with all my heart doesn't mean he's going to wait for me, and get over his past for me, without me actually saying a thing to him. What was I expecting...?

If Kazuhiko were here at that moment, he would've said that these presumptions were proof of how much I loved Fye, me wanting him to change so much...even if it is selfish. You can love someone selfishly, he'd imply, and then he might've cast a wistful glance towards Suu's room, then back at me. He'd have told me I loved her selfishly, too, though it wasn't a crime. No, of course not. I hadn't felt anything I was so sure was real in ages. 

It was just...I didn't want to love him selfishly. That wouldn't have been a problem if I couldn't change him at all; if I knew I couldn't help him forget about his past, I wouldn't bother trying to love him any other way. But he listened to me now. I knew I could change him, and loving him for only myself was unacceptable. 

I wanted him to love me...I wanted him, in loving me, to accept himself. And to do that, I had to open my mouth first and say something. 

Say something to him, Kurogane. Answer his question. 

Oh, no. Oh, hell no. Don't tell me I'd forgotten - what was his damn question? 

My eyes were completely blank as I stared back at him. "I...I, um..."

He laughed good-naturedly, as if perceiving immediately from the helpless look on my face. "You forgot the question, didn't you? Silly Kuro-pi. To think that you could ponder and ponder away while ignoring me...!" His smile drooped a little. "I was hoping you'd tell me what happened while you were out there..."

"Oh. That."

"Hee..."

"Well. It...um..." 

I narrowed my eyes, trying to retrace our path through the bleak mist. It didn't bother me, telling him all that occurred. Now I had a better hypothesis of the way Fye was going to react. I figured he'd listen, nod a few times, always with that precocious smile that yearned to strive for some level of tranquility when I was around – for both our sakes – and he'd make some sort of clever observation now and again. That was fine...shit, it was all that I could possibly ask of him.

"...Well. It started when we lost the oar..."

-

I told him everything. Well...nearly everything. I didn't tell him that the woman and man were named Chitose and Kouryuu, for fear that he might've known them, and become afraid. I didn't tell him what Chitose told me. I was half-conscious when she said a lot of those things to me, so I figured that unless Suu, too, heard what she'd said about her being my...aunt...I wasn't going to burden anyone else with the information. 

I had to solve this mystery myself before I concerned Fye with it.

My predictions weren't far off...he'd reacted a lot like I thought he was. That relieved me...because in some way, I knew our bond was growing stronger. All it took was a little less worry and something of a push, like this whole damn disaster, to set things right. All the time, I was growing closer to him.

I sort of ignored the description of how painful it was for me back there. By now, it was like a distant dream. The only scar I had to show for it was my foot...and it was completely numb because of Yuuko's injection. There was no reason for me to show regret. 

But Fye was most concerned about the pain. He was more composed than I'd remembered him from before, but it was evident in the tiny hiss that escaped him when I told of my close encounter with Kouryuu that his emotions were undeniably there. They were hidden, sure. But I was relieved to see that he still cared. It vaguely reminded me of the Fye I was breaking through to only a few days before, even though there was sadness there in his eyes. 

"You jammed your injured foot into his leg...?" He winced, and I could feel a weak squeeze on my hand. "Instinctively?"

I sighed, feeling somewhat defeated. "Okay. So it wasn't smart. I guess...guess what I was thinking at the time was that the injured foot was useless anyway. I figured I'd at least kick with it. I didn't count on it to be that painful, though..."

Not making me sound any smarter, but that's...er...acceptable. Goddamn it, everyone's a critic. 

"No...not really. But you really wanted to save Kohaku, didn't you?" He whispered quietly. "You wanted to protect him and Suu so much that you didn't even think to ground your weak foot. It's not smart, no...but it's noble. That surprised me. I didn't think you'd be so dedicated to them. You really care about them, don't you?" 

"I love them," I responded without hesitation. "There'd be nothing for me if my friends weren't alive. They need me like I need them. A man who doesn't love and protect his friends is useless."  

This threw Fye off a bit. He looked somewhat bewildered...I couldn't describe it. There wasn't anything really different about him in that moment...nothing beyond a sensation in my heart that he hadn't fully expected what I'd said. In his eyes, I could see an unfamiliar light.

Had I stumbled upon something...?

"You don't live for yourself, then...?" It was almost inaudible, and it unnerved me how quiet he was.

"Living for others and living for yourself...is the same," I answered him, more cautiously than I'd spoken before. I realized that speaking rashly around him wasn't something I would make a habit of after this. "I would die for them, Fye. I couldn't imagine a world without Suu or Kohaku. I want to protect them. In realizing that...I realize who I am. So putting myself before them as a priority is pointless in my mind."

I paused, looking at him questioningly. "What's the matter?"

He gazed at me with a sad gleam in his eyes, and he seemed to think on this for a little while. Then his smile widened, slowly unfolding into lazy bliss. I couldn't tell if the pity in his eyes was intended for me, or...well, he'd always been hard to read. But I couldn't tell if he thought what I was saying was stupid, or whether he was just...

Fye chuckled. It was a soft, tinkering sort of sound, like winter bells, and fragile as the frostbitten branches. He looked away, contemplating into the distance; his gaze were directed towards the frigid sea, and if I'd looked closely, maybe...maybe I would've seen the past, dancing hypnotically in front of those beautiful eyes... 

-

"Nothing's the matter...really. It's just funny to me." 

He closed his eyes, and fell silent for a long while. It was as though he was asleep upright, and it awed me that he could sit so still, while I was so cautious my heartbeat refused to allow me any peace. Then... 

"I've always thought that I'd lived a selfish life, is all." A shake of his head, and he was awake again, his blue eyes as deep and unfathomable as they ever were. But there was a glow in them, and I could tell that he was – even if he didn't fully understand how or why – divulging secrets to me he'd never voiced before. 

"I've always believed in doing things for myself. And I knew for certain that I was hurting people. But I...just couldn't stop. I wouldn't stop. And I didn't."

At this point, I knew I was leaning forward, listening intently, almost frightened by him. I know it might sound more than a bit insane, but now that the truth was slowly rearing its ugly head, I wasn't prepared...not for all the rhetoric and mind-numbing philosophical rambles I'd put myself through, not for all the questions I'd asked and the answers I'd received, was I the least bit prepared for what he was about to say to me.

In the end, I felt, with a dark sense of panic, that I had never expected him to tell me anything. I'd expected him to be bottled up forever. And now that he was finally allowing me a glimpse into his heart, I had no idea what I would do, what I would say to him. My grip on the situation was gone. 

I was scared, yes. I'm not afraid to admit that I was, because for me...it felt as though I'd lost him already...

But Fye wasn't paying any attention to my anxiety, because if he had been, he would've stopped. He would've stopped dead in the middle of his sentence because he would've seen the fear etched across my face, and he would've known immediately that I might've been helpless to comfort him. 

Instead, he was completely lost in his own world, and I could hear it in his quieting voice, a voice that was rambling about a past I still couldn't piece together...he was a haunted creature. I knew that I was loosing him to himself again...

"I didn't think that if I left them, I would never be happy. Saving myself..." His fists tightened, and his knuckles turned a papery white with anguish, "...what have I possibly saved...?"    

-

I couldn't bear it. I didn't know where to begin to help him, but I knew that every second was too precious to lose. He was sinking deeper and deeper, and Goddamn it if I let him drown himself this way!

I refuse to lose anyone I love. And you...someday, even you'll see that, Fye. 

I'm more stubborn than you think. 

Taking a deep breath, I plunged into what would turn out to be a revelation of my own. I didn't know why I said it, and I didn't know what my point was. I didn't think that Fye would even understand my rambling.

But trying was all that I could do, and I did it, because if ever there were even the most remote chance that I could save him, I would do it. I would do anything for him. It didn't matter the consequence...nothing I could've done to embarrass myself would've been worse than losing him forever.

And that day, I found that "anything" included telling stories about Tomoyo.

"There's no reason to regret anything you do for yourself," I said, my voice low, and Fye turned back to me, startled. I didn't realize that I was the one talking until after a few sentences, it was that surreal. I...it was as though my subconscious had complete control. 

Ah...but I let it take control, though. And maybe if I hadn't, I wouldn't have ever healed his soul.

"I know you think that hurting people unintentionally is just as cruel as if it were done on purpose...that even despite your guilt, it doesn't change what you did. That's what I thought...once upon a time. But why should anyone feel guilty about things they did for themselves? Why should people take responsibility for things that are out of their control?"

I reached out to touch his face. He was cold...like the freezing ocean. But I was getting through. I knew this the moment he responded to my touch...he took my outstretched hand in his, and pressed it close to his cheek. 

Shared warmth. In that moment, we became a single passive fire. 

And with his touch, I found that I could continue more easily than before. My speech became faster, flowing like a winding river, through the story I was weaving – and I was beginning to realize why I was telling it to him. 

"I once thought the same way you do. Then Tomoyo showed me different. I'd always thought she lived for someone else...but it turns out that it was the source of her happiness. She never seemed to regret anything she did...and at the time, I wasn't sure whether to think she was cruel or tragic. Ever since she was young, she'd been remarkable."

"Tomoyo...?"

"My cousin. It was probably a good thing that she came from my mother's side of the family. She was as beautiful as a certain blue-haired niece of mine, but she's as different from Umi as night and day. She was always so serene and imaginative...I loved her with all my heart when I was little." 

Unaware of it, I grinned a little from the memory. It was that saccharine, and I remember it with incredible clarity. "I met her first when I was only five, and I proposed to her when I was seven. No, seriously...I knew shit back then, so I couldn't tell that it was wrong or that, despite the fact that she treated me kindly and always smiled whenever I came by, she was deeply in love with someone else in my family. My second cousin, Kinomoto Sakura."

Fye couldn't help giggling at this. "Strange family...! Are you sure?"

I nodded grimly. Recalling the incident back then, a cold wave washed over me, and I found it difficult to continue reminiscing this way...so openly about a subject I'd long since shut away. I swallowed. 

"I'm sure." I looked down at the floor bitterly. "I'm sure. I'd been sure ever since Sakura died..."

Don't worry...this isn't a particularly strong subplot, this one with Tomoyo and Kurogane's past, so you don't need to focus on it, but it'd be good to remember it for the ending of the story...which I sense, if I keep digressing this way, won't be coming up for a long, LONG time. ^_^;; I really need to learn how to be brief!

In any case, the crossing over starts here, and is amplified tenfold by the next few chapters. ^-^ That's what I'm hoping for, anyway. But I'd also hoped that this story would end at Chapter 15, and we all know that's not happening...-;;...see you in another two weeks, if I'm lucky!


	19. Unravelling: Part 1

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Disclaimer: (See Prologue the first)_

_Author's Notes:_

Whoo...long, long hiatus. 'Twas mostly due to my new Oekaki Central addiction. _;; But I'm back now, and...erm...slightly better? Well, at least well rested. Yep. 

I wonder how much I've forgotten about the storyline...? O_O;;;

So why am I back? Well, I never really intended to be back, I'm sorry to say. It takes a lot of work writing a fic like this, and ultimately, it just sort of bogged me down. Plus, I began to wonder at the importance of me writing this. Do people like what I write? Is it helping me or hindering me? And was the storyline a huge ramble or was it actually slowly getting somewhere? I'm just an amateur...I had no way of knowing the answer to any of these questions.

I was lost, kind of like...well, Kuro. ^_^;; Less philosophical mumbling, though, so that's all good. So I decided to quit. Relax a little. It's not something I regret, even to this day. I think it would've all come spiraling down if I ended up writing when I didn't want to write at all.

And at this point, I'd just discovered that I was good at Oekaki, so that gave me another outlet for my creative energies. For people not in the know, it's sort of like ff.net, except with online drawing using their built-in programs. Good fun. I'd been drawing practically forever, so it came really easily to me. I didn't have to work hard at it. There were no chapters, no continuity problems. The drawings flowed out of me like water. And with pictures, I had a better idea of what my weaknesses were, what to improve, what to change.

The ability to write and write well is an elusive talent that, like art, is hard to judge. But with Oekaki, people told me what to work on (Moderators are quite cool that way ^_^), and I had a better idea. Each picture was an individual piece, waiting to be judged. But who can tell you what to work on when you write down chapters of a whole? You can't. You have to wait for it. Wait for it. It confounded me to no end. 

All I knew in the end was that writing more is the only sure-fire way to get better in writing. It's the only truth for an author...anywhere. I love writing, and I love it with all my heart. Even stumbling around in the dark is better than sitting down and letting it swallow you.

So today I'm writing again. Because it really doesn't matter whether I write well or not...only that I love it, and it makes me happy. I hope that the story is good, and that it pleases the masses. I do. ^_^ But that's not the most important thing. The important thing is being able to get back up and doing something that you like even if it's harder than drawing a picture a day. 

I re-read the last couple of chapters I'd worked on. I saw some things I liked, and some things I liked less. All in all, a solid beginning. And that's what it was...a beginning. The beginning of the plot. And suddenly, I closed my Oekaki program, and saw the potential in Siren Cove. I could make this story better. I could take it farther than this. I wouldn't...no, couldn't...leave it as it was. Fye and Kurogane have a mutual agreement to reach. Every character in here has a destiny. And CLAMP knows that if you believe in destiny, it'll happen without a doubt.

And that brought me here. In front of my keyboard, in front of Word, in front of the endless possibilities...it promised to be a difficulty, starting up again. But I knew I'd end up writing...just for me.   

If I do update this fic, it'd probably be irregular, and only one segment at a time – not two. I have only a vague plan of what would happen (By now, I know exactly how it's going to end, but I'm having a bit of trouble with...um...everything else? _;;), but I'm probably forgetting some of the finer plot points by now. Thankfully, I don't have to write anything real important this time around...just a subplot. _;; God, when I put it that way...

Well. Here I go.

Chapter 9: UNRAVELLING 

_ Also known as_

_"The crossover goulash begins!"_

_Part 1_

"Tomoyo. My cousin, Daidouji Tomoyo.

"God, I hope you don't expect me to describe her to you..."

A nod from Fye, and I shook my head painfully. Argh...but I should've known. He was a curious one, even if he wouldn't allow others to be curious. Pity I love him this much. 

Besides, fundamentally...you can't tell a story about events. You have to tell a story about people. So people it is. But _Tomoyo...?_ You don't ask someone to describe _Tomoyo _to you, of all people...it's damn near impossible...

I mustered an awkward smile. "Okay. But it wouldn't be pretty...

-

"Tomoyo. Tomoyo...was eccentric. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill teenager. She'd tote around her camcorder everywhere, and videotape anything and everything that moved. Particularly if it was cute. She had a fetish for taping cute girls...I don't know how Sakura could stand it. She herself was cute...long violet tresses, straight-cut bangs like a Victorian doll, and skin like porcelain. She's the living image of Sakura's mother Nadeshiko; believe me, I've had the bizarre privilege of comparing the two. It's scary beyond all reason.

"She came from the richer side of the family – not that my side wasn't rich as well, because we could even afford to pay for Umi – but she wasn't interested in money. She was interested in high fashion and glamorous shots and music and choir and friendship. Friendship in particular. It wasn't hard to make friends with Tomoyo. She was talented and beautiful and sweet as a bird's song...and I only wish that she wasn't so frickin' popular. 

"Confused yet?"

Fye glanced at me fondly, a hand propping up his chin. He seemed amused. Not that much different from his usual expression, but... "I can already envision her in my mind."

"Oh?"

"Someone you loved very much."

"...Oh."

"You can always tell when a person loves another. It's in the way they describe them. They'd use circumlocution without knowing it and pointlessly go over every detail. And you can see it in their eyes that they aren't talking to you...but talking to themselves. To the void where all unrequited love goes." He smiled. "Charming, bittersweet ramble."

"You think?" I couldn't help grinning a bit. "Then how would you describe me, I wonder...?"

His eyes glittered, betraying a clever sentiment. "Please, go on."

Dodgy.      

-

"One thing I'd remember about Tomoyo no matter what...

"Tomoyo always knew what she wanted, so she wasn't all that hard to judge. She had her priorities in perfect order. Anyone with that much stability in their lives was admirable to the point of deifying. I never had much direction. But she possessed a clarity that flew over my head. I could never quite understand her. 

"It was her charm. It also scared me shitless sometimes. She wasn't like anyone I'd ever met, and a person can't help being afraid of something like that. 

"You know how some people smile all the goddamn time, and you never know what they're really thinking? You know...like Yuuko, but...um...not? She was like that. Not knowing what she was thinking always put me at a disadvantage. I'd approach her, and she'd smile that elusive smile, and I'd find that I had nothing to say. It was like that for the longest time. 

"You couldn't talk to someone whom you couldn't understand. Not comfortably. Even before I knew my damn alphabets, I knew that much."

I sighed deeply. 

"There was only one foolproof way of seeing someone eye-to-eye, and that I learned after about a year of knowing Tomoyo. I was six when I first realized it, and it'd stayed with me ever since, because I remember how stupid I felt for not knowing sooner. In a way, she revealed the answer for me. I guess everything works out that way.  

"To see someone eye-to-eye...they'd have to love you.

"More specifically, they'd have to dance with you.

"Our huge family reunion always takes place twice a year: once in the springtime, and once more in the cold of Christmastime. That year, we all went out to the spring festival together. Tomoyo had decked me in a yukata with crimson roses and black dragons in every stitch; she loved to combine oriental fashions and European sensibilities, which was beyond odd, but I wasn't complaining. 

"She designed something for everyone, actually. Umi had a huge water serpent running across her sleeves, and water blossoms scattered all across the hemline. Uncle Saiga was completely wrapped in billowing smoke patterns that seemed to dance and swirl in the night, and Aunt Karen was decked in bright red silk with feather ornaments and a shimmering geta made of interlocking chains of pearls. I think it goes without saying that no one could fault Tomoyo's fashion sensibilities."

"And Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura shone that night." There was no denying that. "Tomoyo had designed for her a flowing kimono with tinkering baubles drifting from her collar and completely covered with white cherry blossoms. Real ones."

Fye's eyes widened. "Real flowers...sewn onto the material?"

"She'd gone collecting blossoms that same night, so that the flowers would be fresh. She sewed each petal onto the fabric, so that the scent permeated off the kimono as Sakura walked. It was flawless, sublime...and when Sakura wore it, I knew it belonged to no one else. The kimono, and my cousin's love.

"Tomoyo had worked tirelessly on that one piece, when everything else had been designed ahead of time. She's a monster, I know...no one in our family was quicker with threads than my elegant cousin, Saiga notwithstanding. And somehow...somehow...she'd gotten it done.

"That night, she danced with Sakura underneath the radiant lanterns. 

"She was smiling, smiling in a way I'd never seen her smile towards me before. Boldly and unabashedly giggling at everything that was said to her. She was completely transformed. Sakura's feelings towards everyone was blatantly platonic...she was a sweet girl, and at the time I didn't think she'd ever commit herself to any one person. But Tomoyo seemed not to care. She was in love. 

"And that night as I watched them, my cousin dancing with the angel bedecked in flowers, I knew that I would win her love, too. It was the only way I'd get her to smile that way at me. I promised myself I, too, would dance with her someday.

"We'd see eye-to-eye, then."

-

Staring at me thoughtfully, a shadow passed over Fye's tranquil features, and he stirred. An agitation. He knew what was to come, and so did I. I must've done something right, because it was as though he'd snapped awake from a comforting dream. It was instant and fearful. 

"But Sakura...Sakura died, didn't she? You said so."

"...I did." 

"Why did it happen...?"

"Shit, Fye...why does anything happen?" I laughed quietly, miserably. 

A pause.

"Do you want to hear how – "

"Not right away. I want to hear more about Tomoyo, first." 

He had an adamant expression on his face I rarely saw, and a frown...! A frown. We were both a bit strange today, though. But perhaps he didn't want me to say it because he was trying to protect me. I grinned a little at the thought. As though he was afraid I'd hurt myself saying it. Suddenly I was the victim.  

Swallow the tears from the past, like rainwater. It won't hurt me...anymore. 

"Sure." 

-

"I won't ever forget the day I proposed to her. I'd turned seven recently. It was raining the day I decided to carry out my plan, and the air was moist and boiling hot. Sheer hell. Our family had gone to visit hers that summer because my European grandmother Emeraude had come down with a heart attack. Foreign blood's the reason I'm so freakishly huge, if you care to know.

"That day, only Tomoyo and I were home. The adults were driving to the hospital to bring Grandma back home, and Umi had gone to a ballet recital with her friend Hikaru. Chirpy little kid. In any case...

"It wasn't a last-minute stunt. I'd prepared for the proposal for days, though I could only be so prepared when the actual event was taking place in a whole other house.

"I'd always been told that making a good impression was key, practicality be damned, so I needed something better to wear. I pretty much rummaged through the entire house. Tomoyo's stepfather Ueda didn't keep his tuxes in the open, so his checkered business suit had to suffice. 

"And shoes...Sonomi had good shoes, I remembered that much. High heels nearly killed me, but I got them on. And my hair looked like shit, so I ran some vanilla extract through it with a comb. Don't you laugh, damn it! I liked the smell! Don't - " 

But Fye was already bent over – laughing – and nothing I said could make him stop.

"Y-You're crazy!" He gasped, wiping stray tears from his eyes. His face had turned entirely red. The incredulousness was practically radiating from his face. Hard to believe a huge asshole like me could be an even bigger asshole in childhood. I know, I know. 

"What else did you do...? W-Wait...let me guess. Oh, no...no, the ring..." His eyes widened as he deduced my next move. It wasn't that hard. Fye's thought process couldn't have been much different than a child's, as cheery as he always managed to be. "Oh, don't tell me you'd – "

"Cereal box collectible," I mumbled, blushing like a ripe tomato. Inquisitive bastard. "I dropped it...in the lemonade pitcher."

"B-But why?"

"Television. Absolutely poisoned my mind back then." I tried to glower at him meaningfully, but found it hard not to smile because his mirth was just so contagious, and I ended up cracking up despite my best efforts. He could always get through my defenses. "I-I saw people put their proposal rings in desserts, and I was so impressed by how it worked...but the lemonade was just t-there, and the cake wasn't...s-so...!"

I sputtered, giggling uncontrollably, and so did he. It was a sickeningly cute image, one that both of us couldn't shove out of our minds. Still plagues me to this day. Hard to believe that a tiny version of me in high heels and a cheap suit was once pacing around nervously, pitcher in hand...and reciting my vows. My goddamn vows...! 

And every once in a while, when the heat got to me, I'd wipe the dripping vanilla extract from my squint red eyes. I smelled like shit. I thought – at least, _I_ thought – that I'd smelled like lemonade and ice cream. But there was no getting around the fact that I smelled like shit. I was more than a little delusional...but love does that to everyone. 

Yeah. Even now I give myself pats on the back for choosing a time when Umi was gone. Kurogane...you lucky son of a bitch, you. 

-

"Did you really ask her...?" Fye asked when he could finally control himself, wiping his forehead with a gleeful look on his face. "What happened?"

I winced instinctively. "Well, I...um...I asked her. Yes. And then...God, you know what happened – "

"She let you down?"

"It was inevitable. It's like I said...she wouldn't do anything that she didn't want to. That includes marrying her youngest cousin whose brain was obviously fried by the heat." I paused, contemplating. "But she could've done a lot worse."

"How?"

"She could've gotten out her camcorder, and - damn it, Fye, stop l-laughing...!"

-

"She was practicing her song that day. She had choir on the weekend with the local performing arts school. Her voice was trained, but it didn't need to be. I'd heard Tomoyo sing long before they'd enrolled her...even then, her voice was like the unadulterated sound of splashing rain, carefree and divine in its origin. 

"After a few years, her voice was professional, and no less beautiful. But it sounded stronger...like a flowing stream, dutiful, powerful, and carving away at the riverbanks. The sound from her throat was following a predestined path, and she ran through her songs with unparalleled grace. She knew where every note was going, and she knew how to get them there. I could listen to that voice forever.

"She had a sense of direction I never doubted once. Not once. You could hear it in her song. And it intimidated me, because I knew I couldn't shake her unless she wanted to be led. I couldn't make her love me, so I had to win her over. 

"But I wasn't strong enough then.

"I found her standing by the window, her arms outstretched, a music stand weakly supported in front of her. Her voice filled the entire room. Her stance was utterly commanding, and it caught my eye immediately. She was using a technique Oruha had taught her, and it made her impervious to the pounding of the rain, the dampness of the air."

"Oruha...I've heard that name before."

"She was Kazuhiko's lover. Died in a drive-by shooting a few years back, and he'd never gotten over it. Before she made it as a lounge singer, she used to teach music near Tomoyo's house. Funny how that works out, sometimes. He was the one who recommended the Scavenger job to me...if the topic of Oruha hadn't somehow wormed its way into our conversation, I might've never gotten where I was. Kazuhiko's recommendation was the only thing that persuaded Gingetsu into letting another Scavenger in when there really was no need..."

"Was she a good teacher?"

"She was. Tomoyo might as well have been standing under a blazing neon spotlight for all the effect she had on me. Oruha must've taught well.

"I stopped in my tracks when I saw her, not knowing what to say. There was an instant where I wished, more than anything else in my scramble of thoughts, that I didn't love her so much, that I would be able to turn back. But I couldn't turn my back to her, couldn't look away. I was entranced. 

"You know, they say that children can't fall in love? That they're not old enough?" I scoffed. "Screw them. Shit...if I didn't love her...I don't see how the hell I could've been so frightened."

-

"Then she heard Sonomi's damned high heels, and turned around. I don't need to tell you that the silence just about killed me alone."

"Was she startled?"

"...No. Not at all. That wouldn't be like her. She seemed...contemplative. All she did was turn around and smile. It knocked the goddamned breath out of my lungs. 

"Such a child, unlike any other...and so observant...she didn't say or do anything for a while. Neither did I.  

"Then she asked me quietly to pull up a chair beside her. There was no reason for her forgiving sentiments. But I accepted her silence. It was better than the alternatives; I would've shit my pants if she'd laughed at me, or pitied me. I put away the fancy attire, and I sat down next to her, wondering whether she knew all along that this was coming. Hell, she probably did. I wouldn't know. I never would.

" 'You've always liked me, haven't you?' She asked me. Her smile was sweet, but not saccharine. She had remarkable control.

" ' I-I have.' I swallowed. I didn't know whether what I said was right or wrong, whether it was what she wanted to hear.  

"And she nodded. Her expression never changed. I couldn't find a hint of sadness on her lovely face. And that's when I realized that she wasn't trying to please me...and I needed to stop trying to please her. I needed to say what I wanted. I had the damn spotlight...even for one second, in the absence of Sakura. I needed to say what I wanted to say.

"Only what _I_ wanted to say.

" 'I love you. Please marry me.'

"There was conviction in my voice now, and I balled my hands into fists, trying to stop shaking nervously. My sincerity made her happier. I could see it in her eyes. There was a bubbling mirth there. I had charmed her, but I hadn't won her affections. A shake of the head.

" 'I cannot.'

-

"Soon, she was singing again, and I was content listening to her sing. She was a tropical songbird perched atop the pinnacle of the earth. My songbird. The one I held above all the world.

"She was singing an English song. A love song. The English knew a hell of a lot less about love than she did. Yet I was still entranced. She weaved a spell with that beautiful voice...completely incomparable to any mortal sound."

"Do you remember it?"

I shifted awkwardly, casting an embarrassed look at Fye...somewhat annoyed, somewhat offended, but mostly timid, because I did remember that song, and I would remember it until I die. I was ashamed of myself, and looking for a way out, but there was no excuse to lie to him. 

He held my hands. A single gesture can mean so much that it hurts. And he squeezes them tightly, bathing them with warmth from his own heart, through his blood, through his gentle fingertips.

"I suppose...you could even sing it, if you wanted to. The melody must've embedded itself into your heart."

"Like a nail, like an arrow. Yeah, I can damn well sing it."   

-

A voice like blood from the gaping wound flowed out of me, swift as the wind...tireless as the sea. It was the thread that connected me to Tomoyo to this day. Even though I don't know where she is...even though I might never know. 

The song that bared her heart and showed me her weakness. 

She sang it so well...

_If I loved you,_

_Time and again, I would try to say_

_All I'd want you to know..._

_If I loved you,_

_Words wouldn't come in an easy way;_

_Round in circles I'd go..._

_Longing to tell you but afraid and shy..._

_I'd let my golden chances pass me by – _

-

" ' Do you feel that way, Tomoyo...?

"I asked her that, back when I was little, back when I was ignorant. And a wistful look came upon her, almost sad. Almost. She reached for the nearby coffee table, for a wooden picture frame that I hadn't noticed before...

"The picture was of Sakura and a boy I didn't recognize.

" 'She met him a couple of weeks ago. They are destined to be together.' 

"The conviction in her voice prompted me to listen, to look twice at the innocent children enclosed in the frame...boxed together as if packaged to meld into one another, through the grasping of their hands...

"Tomoyo laughed quietly, looking over at me in a casual manner. 

" ' I suppose you think I've already told her I loved her. But I always knew...always knew...that Sakura deserved someone else. She doesn't act the same when around him. He's an earnest boy, and loves her with all his heart. I can already tell. They belong together, and an accepting lover like me cannot interfere.'

"She winked at me. 'Aren't they cute?'

"I shook my head, disappointed. She wasn't singing that song from her heart, though it seemed like it. I wished that I could at least share bitter disappointment with her, if nothing else.

" 'That song you were singing. You might not have taken it seriously, but I did. I really did.'

"Her hand reached out to me then, white and serene...perfect fingertips.

" 'You must learn how to act for yourself, Kurogane. You're my little cousin! I'd be so disappointed if you couldn't tell the one you loved how you felt. Even in difficulty, you must persevere. I sense a strength in you. You will grow up to do great things.

" 'But you cannot be afraid of me!' She winked."

This turned out...kind of Clover-esque. Sort of dreamy. I was reading "The English Patient" while writing, so you can't blame me! _;; Ehehehe... 


	20. Unravelling: Part 2

_SIREN COVE_

(By: CLAMPraven)

_Author's Notes:_

Found some time, and I decided to use it wisely. So I've brought you the second part of Kurogane's tale. Here's hoping I'll get into the hang of this again. ^_

As for the last A.N...can we say "melodrama"? ^_^;;; Ne, I probably meant it when I said it. Eheheh. _;;

Chapter 9: UNRAVELLING 

_ Also known as_

_"The crossover goulash begins!"_

_Part 2_

"Sakura was meeting a boy named Syaoran, as it turned out."

"Syaoran..."

"A foreigner. She was helping him improve his Japanese. And sometimes I wonder about it...if she knew what else she was doing to him, maybe everything wouldn't have happened as it did."

-

"Syaoran was a smart kid. That boy was everything you'd expect from a gentleman. He listened and watched. He got down to work right away. He said 'sorry' in his basic Japanese whenever he made a mistake. I don't want to think about how many times the kid would've gotten laryngitis if Sakura wasn't merciful. Damn lap dog. 

"He was earnest, eager to learn, and serious as hell about everything. And like a lot of kids who were freakishly book smart but unbelievably stupid about everything else, he didn't realize he loved her right away. 

"I guess it was alright, because it didn't end up taking him long."

"And Tomoyo knew?" Fye asked quietly. I'd be the first person to admit I was as predictable as a damned boomerang. Everything winds back to Tomoyo in the end.

"Did Tomoyo know. Heh. Tomoyo knew before they even said 'hello'."

A giggle. "You're so jealous of her foresight...! Try not to wrinkle your nose; it's not attractive."

"...Jesus!"

"Ahahahah..."

-

"Sakura loved Syaoran too. Which was good.

"As far as Tomoyo was willing to tell me over the telephone, she'd find any sort of excuse at all to go over to his house. Does his consonants need a run-through? Speeding out the door. Is his tummy hurting? Tripping over roadblocks trying to get to the pharmacy. She darned his socks, you know."

"How were they?"

"Overcooked. She left them underneath the iron while she was swooning." I rolled my eyes. 

"It's not her fault."

"Damn it, the only reason Syaoran even let her do all that for him was because he didn't understand the goddamned customs around here. Girls don't play nurse for you when you're sick, and girls don't run through the rain to deliver you handmade bento."

I went on, completely unaware of the fact that I was ranting. Meanwhile, Fye shot me a funny glance. 

"Sakura was cute and all, but she was a complete and utter ditz. You think about it for a second. If you liked a foreign kid who didn't know shit about the country, wouldn't you try something else? Wouldn't you do more than darn his freaking socks? Damn it, you'd snag a kiss within the first five minutes! You do not waste countless hours falling over your own feet and talking to yourself, wondering whether or not he likes you...not if he's not from around here! 

"You go for it! You just – what? _What?_"

At this point, Fye was bent over giggling. His face was entirely red. I stopped my frantic gesticulating, realizing the irony for the first time. And my face went one butt-ugly shade of purple. 

"...Shut up."

Fye sputtered helplessly, then collapsed onto the bed, his arms limp. A grin the size of freaking China spread over his face. "B-But – "

"You didn't hear me say anything!! Damn it, Fye! I do NOT contradict myself!"

-

"In any case. Sakura was completely obsessed with him. They looked cute together, so no one objected, particularly not Tomo – Fye."

"Pfffffffft..."

"_Fye._" I snapped my fingers irritably. "You done already?"

A shaky nod. "Heehee. Yep."

"Good God."

-

"_So._ Like I was saying.

"It was the summer solstice, a few years later, when it happened. My memory's horrible, but I know that much. No one could really forget that day."

A grim mood settled over me. No one could forget, least of all myself. I sometimes think that I was the one most affected by it all. But that was wrong...still, I wanted to believe that. I didn't want to acknowledge the fact that anyone could've had their heart broken so utterly. 

I wasn't just the victim, but the one who loved the victim with all my heart. 

I liked to tell myself that it couldn't have been worse.

"Sakura was all dressed up, as usual, courtesy of Tomoyo. Her gown, still incomplete at that point, was fluffy with folds, the color of river foam. She was so excited. I could see the warm glow in her big green eyes. She had lovely eyes, you know. Not unlike you do."

Fye bowed his head awkwardly. "Kurogane..."

I didn't push it. In my eyes, there was a flash of pain, I imagine. And I turned away without a word. It was silent for a while.

Don't know why I...

Comparing Fye to the late Sakura wasn't pleasant. It wasn't something you did out of sheer boredom, or for the sake of amusement. It was true that Sakura was beautiful, and so was Fye. I couldn't reiterate that fact to him often enough. But Sakura slipped away from all of us, so suddenly and so unexpectedly. 

Fye...I never wanted him to...

 I didn't know why I even thought of doing it. 

-

"It was another huge family reunion as we planned for the party, and the week before, Sakura had finally gotten the nerve to invite Syaoran. She was ecstatic. The kid pranced all around the house without her slippers, and all the pins fell out of her unfinished dress and onto the carpet. Damn it, but they hurt. 

"Of course, she wasn't really a kid anymore. 

"She was sixteen by then, and Tomoyo was the same. They were young women. Already. Syaoran...I can't remember. All I knew was that his Japanese had improved so rapidly my head is still spinning on a stick. Damn it, he was quick at adapting.

"All of them grew up without me, and I felt that. But I couldn't have been happier. It was...a stupid kind of happiness, like it didn't even register in my head that I would soon be left behind. Even if the incident didn't occur. They would've grown up. Love was something they would've relished long before I did.  

"I was...some eleven or twelve years old. Still didn't know crap. But I got dibs on the caviar anyway.

"I remember helping Sakura tuck her tail in. Sakura was a cat specimen, too, not unlike Watanuki and Kazahaya were. She didn't want to have to show her tail to Syaoran, because he wasn't from the mainland, and might've felt alienated by that...she normally hid her ears with her little pigtails everyday, but when meeting him, she had to wrap her tail in fabric as well. Typical. A kitten with human sensibilities...and so, so confused.

"She told me that she got Uncle Saiga to reserve the family boat for her, so that she and Syaoran could go out on the water when the party got dull. 

" 'I'm going to tell him how I feel!" She told me, with an exaggerated decisive stance. Drama queen. It didn't cover up the fear in her eyes. But I just nodded anyway. Like Tomoyo, I wanted her to give it her all.

"No relative of Tomoyo's was going to be afraid...of a confession of the heart."

-

"They went out onto the water.

"The beach was a smooth stretch of sand when they went, and the waves were coming in. Sunbeams glistened off the thick foam, milky and abundant, washing over their feet. Sakura raised her skirt to walk beside Syaoran in the shallow tide, and giggled as foggy specks brushed against her toes. 

"Such beauty to lay down and look upon...Such beauty.

"They were just two children, and they were so in love. Their hands were interlocked as though they were made to fit together, fingers into hollows, flesh against flesh...warm and platonic. There was no greater love. I watched them, and I couldn't understand it, but I couldn't walk away. There were so many gestures of love in the world, but none...none was greater than the one devised by mere children...the linking of hands. 

"It was the sunset, it was the moonrise. The shore was awash with ivory, and every grain sparkled. The darkness blanketed the sky like the wings of a black butterfly. Intoxication. And everything was bathed in the silence.

"I watched as Syaoran took the oars and lead her into the boat. I watched them leave.

"It was the last time I'd ever see Sakura's pretty eyes."

-

"I could've stopped them. 

"But I was the culprit who was never caught. The waves washed away my footsteps on the sand. It was as though the sea had beckoned to me ever since I was little. It wanted to erase all traces of my existence. 

"I almost let it the day you revealed your true strength. The day you flew. But there was no angel to save me that night. 

"Everyone was searching vainly for an answer. They don't know how easily the sea can erase everything. All life came from the sea, and it can take it all back if it wanted to. That day, it took Syaoran and Sakura.

"They screamed the lovers' names. 'Syaoran! Sakura! Where are you? Please, please come back, please...'

"Tomoyo was on the beach. She was staring out onto the myriads of islands. Or was she looking at the stars...? Standing there all alone. I didn't have to see her expression, whether she'd shed tears that night, whether she was frozen with wonderment or shattered by grief. All I needed to see was her, all alone. Rather, the emptiness about her, as we all searched aimlessly, frantically, in the bleak cover of night.

"When I saw her there, I knew there was no hope."

-

"Ten days passed. Twenty. It rained all the while.

"Rain has such a terrible quality. It blocked out the sun and erased time. It brought us all together, pooling our miseries in that empty house. Every day, I'd wake up, walking downstairs to see the windows still fogged up, the walls bathed in shadows. It was surreal...and it haunted us. Such a quiet that nothing could penetrate it. Hellish and disgusting. It was like crawling through blanket upon blanket of mist, feeling the water drag down your body slowly. Always slowly. Disgusting.  

"Sometimes, our tears would spill. A muffled crying would echo through the house. We cried in bed, and in each other's arms. We cried for them and for ourselves. We were dying.

"Often, I'd hear these sounds...and I wouldn't know who was weeping. It was all too damned dreamlike to trust. Fairy tears.

"Who wept for us, I wondered...?

"A month passed. Two. We waited in the rain."

-

"They were both dead. We found them in August. They'd been towed off a makeshift boat that had nearly gone down.  They'd drifted from an island, a mysterious unknown rock glistening somewhere in the sea, and they were never able to make it back; their boat had been smashed on the rocks, and they were stranded. They were forced to starve...to starve and to wait, then to try until they couldn't try anymore. 

"They had built a boat, using what scarce resources they had found. They had put together dead leaves and dried wood and bound them tautly with seaweed, all while dying with hunger. He had held her limp and dirtied fingers tenderly as they stepped onto the boat, and he had paddled. With all his might, he...

"Who knows what Sakura said as they were trapped out on the rolling sea with no direction? Who knows these things?

"The coast guard had nothing but condolences for us. Our distant friends all came by with flowers and frivolities. Secretly, no one pitied us for such a fate. We were so lucky before the tragedy. We had money, didn't we? We had mansions, didn't we? My family was the richest in the goddamned country...that's how we looked.

"Bitches. Senseless, gluttonous bitches. How could they think that..._money_...could be any consolation?

"Syaoran was holding her even as they succumbed to the cold. That was the analysis that was sent to us in the mail two months before forensics was done with them. He held her hand. She held his waist. And they were both unrecognizable by the time they got to the undertaker and the rest of us. The crabs had devoured the flesh on their necks, their faces."

-

"What happened to Tomoyo?"

 Fye waited awhile. Then, hesitantly, he placed a hand on my back. It felt warm, but I barely perceived it. I was swimming in my thoughts, and my eyes were staring at his feet, but I...

"Don't fade off. Don't...don't drift away. It happened once; it needn't happen again."

Huh. Genuine worry. 

"Kurogane."

"No need to reprimand me. I'm awake."

"I can see it in your eyes. You're so tired...and I know you probably don't want to talk anymore."

"It's not even a matter of wanting," I immediately retorted, almost defensively, my voice hoarse. It betrayed my mood. My eyes shifted to him gravely, and they focused. And for the first time, I noticed tears welling up in them, like stinging dewdrops. "I need to tell someone."

He closed his eyes, nodded a bit. There was a sadness in him, too, as easily noticeable as the bloody sun in the sky. I remembered thinking that someone like him must bleed from the heart for the one he loves. And I remembered thinking something selfish, too...I wanted to win that love. 

"I understand."

"Besides, I haven't even told you what I wanted to tell you." I managed to smile a little.

"Does it have to do with Tomoyo?"

"Don't be an idiot. It has everything to do with her. What part of my natural born life doesn't have something to do with goddamned Daidouji Tomoyo?"

-

"A red motorcycle."

"It was about a month after the incident. I went back home, and I didn't see Tomoyo for a while. Then, the rain cleared up. We met up again on the mainland for Sakura's funeral, sort of unofficially. 

"It went as it should've gone. 

"They'd reserved the spot next to Sakura...Syaoran's folks. They wanted Syaoran to be buried next to her, once they could get their bills sorted out and paid off the money they still owed for his coffin. Sakura's body had been wrapped in cloth and placed inside a special coffin. Sonomi, Sakura's godmother, had asked specifically for the coffin to be made entirely out of wood from the cherry blossom tree outside of their summer home. The stump is still there.

"The minister droned, and the wind murmured into our frigid ears. The grass beneath our feet crumpled like bone dust as, individually, each of us went ahead to bless her tomb. I remember running my hand along the wooden surface of the coffin, waxed and sterile, and imagining the girl encased inside. Imagining both of them encased inside their tombs. They would never link hands again.

"I cried some. I banged on the coffin and screamed. I pleaded for them to let her out, for Tomoyo's sake, for my sake. Tomoyo wasn't there to see it, and I...almost wished she were.

"It went as it should've gone.

-

"After the funeral, one of the rented limousines took off in the direction of the harbor. I was stunned that someone tried to leave so early, without speaking to anyone...but not that stunned. It made me wake up from my daydream, made the pain in my fists fade away. My eyes were wide.

"I was expecting Tomoyo to make an appearance, and evidently, she made one. Jaded and utterly lost, I followed the limo on foot, as it went off-road and sought camouflage through a forested trail.

"Yeah. Tomoyo was driving. A young woman with eyes that keen could learn driving in a week. She had always been sharp, and had obviously calculated a good time to make her exit. I didn't see her at all during the funeral, so she must've bee making prior arrangements...even though her parents insisted that she was up in her room on her island, crying her shriveled little heart out.

"Were they – honest to God – talking about the same Tomoyo? _My_ Tomoyo?

"I knew it couldn't be true. She wouldn't stay. But I couldn't think about that. All the same, when the coffin was finally lowered into its earthly grave, and the crew was carrying in the giant tombstone...

"I saw her. I saw her drive away. Her face was hidden away from me, but it was something...something I knew instinctively to be her doing. It was like another sense entirely, but one that I trusted more than my sight or my ears.

"One that made me run five miles straight in pursuit. It was that damn good."

-

" 'Where are you going?'

" 'I have to leave.' It was simple...such a simple statement from a woman I couldn't read at all. And for a moment, I almost thought it was a lie.

"There she was, standing by the dock next to the shoreline, her long hair swept up in the billowing wind like the wing of a raven. The limousine was parked to one side, enveloped in the arms of the trees. I'd stumbled past it with deliberate slowness, pausing to stare at her through disillusioned eyes. She gazed back, and it was as though she didn't see me at all. 

" 'We'll have to leave soon. In a couple of hours, the harbour front will be packed.'

"I glanced past her. It was a boy. I couldn't remember rightly whether or not he was one of my cousins, I had so goddamned many...maybe someone from Tomoyo's side? He looked like her. With that perpetual smile, he looked like her. In my gut, I knew I hated him for being there.

"A red motorcycle.

"He was perched on a red motorcycle, the most beautiful I'd ever seen. It glistened in the sunlight, the colour of pure blood. A sleek creature, full of grace and cruelty. To this day, I can still recall its colour to the exact shade. 

"A demon vehicle. That red motorcycle...it had a malice to it, and made me feel sick to my stomach. But I couldn't deny how elegant it was...how powerful and robust it seemed underneath the meek sunbeams, as though it radiated its own fire. A motorcycle of fire, and upon it, the one who would take my Tomoyo away.

" 'You're...going away,' I concluded, shaken. My fingers were trembling.

"She didn't move. 'Eriol, wait for me.'

" 'You're leaving! How could you l-leave?' I yelled, infuriated by her smile, incensed by everything she'd ever done, ever said. 'How could you love her and leave?'

"Quietly, she approached me with unnerving calm. Her eyes shone clear in my blurry vision. Pristine. I knew I couldn't win. Her fair white fingers reached out for me, and entangled themselves in my hair. She pulled me close like a loved one. 'Kurogane...my Kuro-kun. Don't be this way.'

" 'You made me care about you! How dare you go away!' I thrashed about in her tight embrace, wailing in agony. I'd been reduced to a sniveling child, kicking and pounding at the one I knew I couldn't help but love.

'Goddamn it, Tomoyo! Goddamn - '

"I suddenly stopped. 

"She had let go, quietly and without warning. With her head held high, she walked away, towards her Eriol. My eyes, streaked red and blazing with a rage that burned from the wound inflicted forever in my heart, continued to watch, even though I knew the sight would kill me. But she had ignored me, and she had made her final decision, one that she knew I wouldn't question...one that she knew she couldn't answer. And suddenly, there was nothing more to say.

"There was no sorrow as great as the sorrow of seeing her go without a word.

" 'We'll go now,' she murmured, her beautiful eyes cast towards the rising tide. A wind swept by, with a howl that hurled distance immeasurable in between us. I knew she would never speak to me again.

"I turned to Eriol. He was smiling. I hadn't the heart to make small talk. So I said all that I needed to.

" 'Will you take care of her?'

" 'I already am.' He couldn't be trusted. It was a nausea curled up at the bottom of my stomach that told me to be wary. He couldn't be trusted. Not by me. 'I'm taking her away from here. If she stays here, she shall certainly die of grief.'

" 'How can distance cure her grief?'

" 'Distance can cure everything. It can erase the memories. And time can wash away all that was ever wrong in the world, replace them with worries anew.'

" 'Will you love her?'

" 'I already do.'

"I couldn't help it. Tears started falling, as violent and unwanted as the biting thunder and the frigid downpour. In my heart, there was a storm, a dying song. I whimpered helplessly. But fiercely, subconsciously, I locked my hands behind me, refused to bow down and shield my face. I would cry.

"I cried, loudly and horribly, at the mercy of the wind. Eriol's eyes were compassionate...compassion with a steel edge. He never did stop smiling.

" 'You're crying. That is a sign of strength.' 

"He put an arm around Tomoyo, whose lips curled up in an identical smile. Identical, save for the traces of unmistakable sorrow. She was not heartless. I saw it in her eyes that she did not want to stay. But she never wanted for me to be hurt, either. And it occurred to me in that moment of bitterness and acid sorrow that she could not hate me. I loved her too much...loved Sakura too much.

"She had to leave. To be truly happy, she had to leave...not so much to go to another place as to depart from this one. There was nothing left. 

" 'It's clear that you don't think badly of Tomoyo. One day, you will be able to act for yourself, too.'

"The sky gave a low, anticipatory rumble. It had become dark, slowly and surely, and Eriol raised his head in surprise.

" 'Time to leave.'

-

For the longest time, there was quiet, a stagnant quiet...the thickness of my breath passing through my lips in uncomfortable gulps. The sound chipped away at the calm, as a nostalgic pain worked its way into the pit of my being, and I realized as though waking from a startlingly real dream that I was crying.

"Kurogane?"

She'd been carried away, on that red motorcycle. The rain came down. They had to find me, bring me home...

There was no anger in me, but I was crying. In my mind, I was trying with an ungainly desperation to piece the fragments of that bittersweet tragedy together again, trying to find my way back into that dream. But it was over, the vivid recollections gone. 

All I had left were pockets full of sand...I was left a broken child. 

Pale arms encircled me with a tenderness I could hardly perceive. It was like pushing against fog-covered screens, trying to shake off the lethargy and my heart full of regret, looking at Fye again...those blue eyes...the beautiful eyes that always provided an answer, the eyes that can be filled with life one moment and utterly defeated the next. Those eyes could never lie to me. They told me he would not leave.

He grasped my hand. My fingers must've felt limp and cold, because his radiated with warmth that at once seeped through my skin, pure and good intentioned. It brought me to life, slowly. 

He opened his mouth, and said something I couldn't understand. 

"W-What...?"

"I don't hate you."

-

"What did you want to tell me, then?"

I was too stunned to speak.

"That I'm a selfish person, but it's okay?"

"..."

"That being happy is the only thing that matters?"

"..."

"Come out of it, Kurogane! I can't keep taking stabs at the air _forever_..."

"Do you love me?" I suddenly blurted out. 

Fye blinked, then giggled coquettishly, pulling me close in a firm hug. I'd expected as much, though I was hoping for more. But I knew better than to try and get a straight answer out of this silly bastard.

"Maaaaybe..." 

-

"Kurogane? You're not supposed to be up, are you? Yuuko, you can't give him permission like this - "

Watanuki ran to my side immediately when he saw me limping down the hall, accompanied by Fye and Yuuko. Under both arms was a crutch, handcrafted by the dark bitch herself with tender loving care and a nonspecific warranty. It felt extremely uncomfortable. My ankle was now beginning to swell to the size of a softball, but the hurt had slowly seeped away.

"Kuro's strong enough to hit the road." Yuuko grinned, tossing her long curtain of hair with that dastardly gleam in her eye. "If the crutches fall apart, he can always crawl. You can crawl, can't you?"

"Pain in the ass..." I muttered, stumbling along as Fye took my arm, laughing. 

Watanuki glared in the opposite direction with his long-suffering look, and rubbed his forehead, much to Yuuko's audible delight. "Dear God. You know what? Fine! Good! Whatever! I don't care anymore! I-I seriously cannot care any less right – Kurogane! Watch the stairs! What the heck are you trying to do, get Fye killed?"

-

"I was thinking..." Fye spoke tentatively as he lead me upstairs. "Do you know...where Tomoyo is now?"

"No idea." I sighed, and struggled to heave myself up another step. It was tricky. I had to dodge the garbage piles. But the grunt work took my mind off of how miserable I was but a moment before. "She's like a dead weight at the bottom of my throat. People who have tried to ask me about her and what happened that day always got a croak at best, nothing more. I..."

I stopped climbing, and paused for something to say. Fye waited patiently, expectantly.

"I'm not sure I should see her again. She disappeared into the horizon on that red motorcycle. I wouldn't mind if it never came back."

He gazed at me thoughtfully for a moment, as though he was unsure whether or not I meant it, whether I would take it back right away. When I didn't, he nodded in agreement, smiling a little. "She was an amazing person, ne?" 

"Hell, yeah." I shook my head. "What Tomoyo did was right. It didn't make it just, but it was what she wanted. She and Eriol must be wandering around the country, now, stirring up trouble left and right. I personally don't give a damn. But don't try to tell me that they're anything less than outrageously happy right now, because Tomoyo, she...

"She would never be that way. She'd never do anything she didn't want. That didn't make her tragic. It made her intelligent, beautiful, and..."

"...An impossible love," Fye finished quietly, musing.

"For me," I added immediately, causing him to laugh gently.

"For you, Kuro-kun."

"Never be afraid to be selfish and do what you want. What you did in your past, Fye...based on impulse...was the most sincere crime you'll ever commit." 

I paused, and my voice lowered slightly as I tentatively reached out one hand to grasp his arm. He seemed surprised, but I continued speaking. I had already said so much...it was impossible, foolish, not to continue. So I stared him in the eye, and I didn't let go. The past had taught me too much for me to back down. 

"You must learn how to act for yourself, Kurogane."

She had said that.

"Tomoyo once said that if Sakura was happy, she would be happy, too."

Fye blinked. He opened his mouth, tried to form words, and failed. I saw a silent awakening in his luminous eyes, gratitude as deep as the tumultuous ocean. For once in his life, he was caught completely off guard and had nothing coherent to say to me. After a while, he finally regained his composure, and breathed a sigh, but he still couldn't stop staring at me in that surprised manner. He really didn't expect it at all. 

"You say it with such conviction." He gave me such a wistful smile; he wanted to embrace me, but didn't dare touch me in my condition. With crutches. On a flight of stairs. On the one day when Kohaku should've been sweeping but had a legitimate excuse to leave the house a mess. "I envy you so much." 

I grinned a bit myself, wryly. Honestly, he should've known by now.

After all this, I could forgive the idiot for anything. 

"Conviction's all I have."

I love rambling, yes I do. I love rambling, how about you?

After a loooooong hiatus, this chapter was finally put up! Hopefully, it meets the standards. I am a bit rusty, but I think I did fairly well on this, all things considered. 

Now, I seriously have to get back to the actual plot. Like, right away. ^_^;;;


End file.
